Walter Cameron Nichol

Walter Cameron Nichol

Walter Cameron Nichol (born October 15, 1866 in Goderich , Ontario , † December 19, 1928 in Victoria ) was a Canadian publisher and journalist . He was the owner and editor-in-chief of The Province newspaper , and from 1920 to 1926 Vice Governor of the Province of British Columbia .

biography

Nichol, the son of a lawyer, grew up in Hamilton . In 1881 he began his journalistic career with the Hamilton Spectator newspaper . He also published Bicycle in 1882/83 , a monthly specialist magazine for bicycles. In 1886 he moved to Toronto and worked for the Evening News . In December 1887, he founded the weekly Saturday Night with a focus on culture. After various differences of opinion with his partners, he founded the competing product Life in 1888 , which, however, ceased to appear after only one year.

In 1889 Nichol returned to Hamilton to work as a reporter for the newly established Hamilton Herald . Over the course of seven years he was promoted to editor-in-chief. In 1896 he founded the newspaper News in London, Ontario . But only a year later he moved to British Columbia because he hoped for better opportunities there. He became editor in Victoria of the House of Commons Hewitt Bostock founded newspaper The Province . It initially appeared weekly and was a Muckraker publication that engaged in aggressive investigative journalism. James Dunsmuir , the province's richest man, sued Nichol for defamation but lost the trial.

From 1898, The Province appeared daily in Vancouver ; three years later, Nichol managed to gain control of the newspaper. By 1910, The Province rose to become British Columbia's leading newspaper. In the course of time, Nichol delegated more and more editorial and publishing activities to deputies and instead devoted himself to other business interests. In particular, he has participated in numerous small and medium-sized businesses in western Canada.

On December 25, 1920, a week after the unexpected death of Edward Gawler Prior , Governor General Lord Devonshire Nichol sworn in as the new Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia. He held this representative office until February 24, 1926. In 1923 he sold all of the shares in his newspaper to William Southam for one million dollars. In 1925 he set up a scholarship program for Canadian students in France, for which he received honorary doctorates from the University of Paris and was made a Legionnaire of Honor by the French government .

Web links

• Walter Cameron Nichol . In: Dictionary of Canadian Biography . 24 volumes, 1966–2018. University of Toronto Press, Toronto ( English , French ).
• Biography on the Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia website