McGill Library
McLennan Library Building3459 rue McTavish
Montreal, Quebec
H3A 0C9
Letter, 18 August 1885
Item
William Drysdale was born on April 17, 1847, in Montreal, Quebec.
He was a bookseller and publisher. He was educated in Montreal and right after leaving the school, he entered the office of John Dougall, a publisher of the Weekly Witness. Drysdale successfully managed the book branch of the business. In 1874, he started his own publishing business, one of the most successful in the Dominion. He published several important Canadian works. In 1883, he was one of the founders and promoters of the Canadian Railway News Co. He was also on the executive of the Society for the Protection of Women and Children, the Dominion Temperance Alliance, Boys' Home, Numismatic and Antiquarian Society, the Montreal Dispensary and the Protestant Hospital for the Insane.
In 1880, he married Mary Mathie Wales (1853–1891) and in 1893, he remarried Mary McIntosh (1848–1907). He died on June 16, 1927, in Montreal, Quebec.
Letter from W. Drysdale to John William Dawson, written from Montreal.