# George Ham > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/George_Ham > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/George_Ham.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Ham > Source revision: 1307202278 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) **George Henry Ham** (23 August 1847 – 16 April 1926) was a Canadian journalist, writer, office holder, and lobbyist.[1] Ham was born in Trent Port (modern [Trenton, Ontario](/source/Trenton,_Ontario)) in the [Province of Canada](/source/Province_of_Canada) to Eliza Anne Eleanor Clute and John Vandal Ham, a country doctor of [Loyalist](/source/United_Empire_Loyalist) stock who later took up law. Ham rejected his father's wish that he become a lawyer to pursue journalism, first at the *Whitby Chronicle* in 1865.[1] He became editor[when?] of the *Whitby Gazette*, where he capitalized on interest in the [Franco-Prussian War](/source/Franco-Prussian_War) by issuing it as a four-page daily in mid-1870. He commissioned a young [John Wilson Bengough](/source/John_Wilson_Bengough) to provide a [serialized novel](/source/Serial_(literature)) for it, whose popular reception encouraged Bengough to devote himself to a journalism career.[2] After numerous odd jobs and newspaper work in [Guelph](/source/Guelph) and [Uxbridge](/source/Uxbridge,_Ontario) Ham moved to Manitoba in 1875 and obtained work as a [compositor](/source/Typesetting) at the *[Manitoba Free Press](/source/Winnipeg_Free_Press)*, where he began writing anonymous humour articles. The editor [William Luxton](/source/William_Luxton) soon promoted him to the editorial department where he later became city editor. In [Shannonville](/source/Shannonville,_Ontario) on 24 December 1870 Ham married Martha Helen Blow, with whom he had two daughters and three sons.[1] Ham launched the *Winnipeg Daily Tribune* in October 1879, and continued as managing editor when it merged with *Daily Times* a few months later. He found newspaper work hard on his health and took up a post as [registrar of deeds](/source/Recorder_of_deeds) for the town of [Selkirk](/source/Selkirk,_Manitoba) in 1882, which he held until the outbreak of the [North-West Rebellion](/source/North-West_Rebellion) in 1885. His articles as a war correspondent were widely quoted and he was admitted to the [Parliamentary Press Gallery](/source/Parliamentary_Press_Gallery_(Canada)) in Ottawa in 1886. He became a friend of [Wilfrid Laurier](/source/Wilfrid_Laurier).[1] Ham was active in Winnipeg society. He served as a school trustee in the 1880s, alderman for Ward 1 of the [Winnipeg City Council](/source/Winnipeg_City_Council) as in 1883, 1884, and 1887, and commissioner for the federal McCarthy Act for liquor licensing.[1] In July 1891 Ham met [Canadian Pacific Railway](/source/Canadian_Pacific_Railway) president [William Cornelius Van Horne](/source/William_Cornelius_Van_Horne), who immediately hired him as general passenger agent. The job took Ham to Montreal, and two years later he became a journalist for the Canadian Pacific Press Bureau. His work promoting the CPR and tourism made him well known throughout Canada. The [Canadian Women's Press Club](/source/Canadian_Women's_Press_Club) made him honorary president in 1904 after he secured free transportation for sixteen Canadian women journalists to cover the [Louisiana Purchase Exposition](/source/Louisiana_Purchase_Exposition). In 1913 he was appointed special assistant to the CPR president, a post in which he lobbied for the company. He continued with the CPR until his death in Montreal. He was buried in Whitby.[1] ## List of works - *The New West: Extending from the Great Lakes across Plain and Mountain to the Golden Shores of the Pacific: Wealth and Growth, Manufacturing and Commercial Interests, Historical, Statistical, Biographical* (1888) - *Our Western Heritage* (c. 1895) - *The Flitting of the Gods: An Authentic Account of the Great Trek from Mount Olympus to the Canadian Rockies* (1906) - *All's Well, No Blue Ruin* (c. 1914) - *Reminiscences of a Raconteur, Between the '40s and the '20s* (1921) - *The Miracle Man of Montreal* (biography of [André Bessette](/source/Andr%C3%A9_Bessette), 1922) ## References 1. Knowles 2005. 1. Kutcher 1975, p. 7. ### Works cited - Knowles, Valerie (2005). ["Ham, George Henry"](http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/ham_george_henry_15E.html). *[Dictionary of Canadian Biography](/source/Dictionary_of_Canadian_Biography)*. [University of Toronto](/source/University_of_Toronto) / [Université Laval](/source/Universit%C3%A9_Laval). [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20150323203748/http://biographi.ca/en/bio/ham_george_henry_15E.html) 2015-03-23 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2015-09-08. - Kutcher, Stanley Paul (1975). [*John Wilson Bengough: Artist of Righteousness*](https://web.archive.org/web/20130928030221/http://digitalcommons.mcmaster.ca/opendissertations/513/) (Master of Arts). [McMaster University](/source/McMaster_University). Paper 513. Archived from [the original](http://digitalcommons.mcmaster.ca/opendissertations/513) on 28 September 2013. Retrieved 22 September 2013. --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [George Ham](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Ham) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Ham?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.