Item 0027 - Letter, 27 September 1884

William Dawson Le Sueur was born on February 19, 1840, in Quebec City, Quebec.

He was a Canadian civil servant, author, and critic. In 1856, he moved to Toronto to work at the provincial Post Office Department. He received his B.A. degree from the University of Toronto in 1863. He also studied law at Osgoode Hall Law School but never practiced. He continued to work as a clerk with the post office and relocated with the department to Ottawa in 1865. In 1888, he became its chief secretary, a position he held until his retirement in 1902. He published over 80 articles on a wide variety of topics. He was a freelance journalist for the Montreal Daily Star, the Montreal Gazette, and the Ottawa Citizen. In 1906, he published a biography of Louis de Buade de Frontenac. In 1903, he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and served as its president from 1912 to 1913. He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Queen's College in 1900.

In 1867, he married Annie Jane Foster (1840–1922). He died on September 23, 1917, in Ottawa, Ontario.