William H. Atherton

William Henry Atherton was an English-born Canadian historian and social reformer who settled in Montreal in the 1890s. He lectured on history and civics and was active in the Catholic social movement, campaigning for playgrounds, housing and the protection of immigrants. His principal work, Montreal, 1535–1914, published in three volumes in 1914, traces the city from Cartier's landing to the eve of the First World War, with a third volume of biographical sketches of its leading citizens. He also wrote a history of the Harbour of Montreal and studies of the city's early French and Irish communities.