{{short description|Canadian politician}} {{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = | name = David Williams Higgins | honorific_suffix = | image = | office = Member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia for Esquimalt | predecessor = | successor = | term_start = 1886 | term_end = 1900 | birth_date = {{birth date|1834|11|30|df=y}} | birth_place = Halifax, Nova Scotia | death_date = {{death date and age|1917|11|30|1834|11|30|df=y}} | death_place = Victoria, British Columbia | spouse = | party = | relations = | children = | alma_mater = | occupation = | profession = }}
'''David Williams Higgins''' (30 November 1834 – 30 November 1917) was a Canadian newspaperman, politician, and author.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/higgins_david_williams_14E.html|title=Biography – HIGGINS, DAVID WILLIAMS – Volume XIV (1911-1920) – Dictionary of Canadian Biography|website=www.biographi.ca}}</ref>
Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, the son of William B. Higgins and Mary Anne Williams, Higgins moved to Brooklyn with his parents and was educated there. He went to San Francisco, California in 1852 and in 1856 he founded the ''Morning Call'' newspaper, which he sold in 1858 when he moved to the Colony of Vancouver Island. He settled in Victoria, British Columbia and was editor and proprietor of the ''British Colonist''. He organized and was first president of the Victoria fire department and was a member of the Board of Education from 1866 to 1869.
He was elected to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia for the electoral district of Esquimalt in 1886. He was re-elected in 1890 and 1898. From 1890 to 1898, he was Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. He was defeated in 1900.
He later wrote two books of fictionalized reminisces: ''The mystic spring and other tales of western life'' (Toronto, 1904) and ''The passing of a race and more tales of western life'' (Toronto, 1905).
His daughter Maude Erve Higgins moved to Los Angeles, was a screenwriter, and married Thomas Corsan, becoming Maude Erve Corsan.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://search-bcarchives.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/wedding-of-maud-erve-higgins-and-thomas-corsan|title=The wedding of Maud Erve Higgins and Thomas Corsan. - RBCM Archives|website=search-bcarchives.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca}}</ref> His other daughter became Elizabeth Raymur.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/resource/dcmsiabooks.mysticspringothe00higg_0/?st=gallery|title=The mystic spring, and other tales of western life|website=Library of Congress}}</ref>
== References == <references />
* {{DictCanbio|ID=7444}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Higgins, David}} Category:1834 births Category:1917 deaths Category:Colony of Vancouver Island people Category:20th-century Canadian memoirists Category:Journalists from British Columbia Category:Journalists from Nova Scotia Category:Speakers of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia Category:Writers from Halifax, Nova Scotia Category:Writers from Victoria, British Columbia