Date Published:
January 2005

L’Encyclopédie de l’histoire du Québec / The Quebec History Encyclopedia

William Costello Kennedy

Kennedy, William Costello (18681923), minister of railways and canals for Canada (1921-3), was born at Ottawa, Ontario, on August 27, 1868, the son of William Kennedy and Julia Costello. He was educated in the separate schools of Toronto, and became a clerk in a loan company in Toronto. In 1897 he removed to Windsor, Ontario, and from 1903 to 1917 he was president of the Windsor Gas Company. In 1917 he was elected member of the Canadian House of Commons for North Essex as an anti-conscriptionist Liberal; and in 1921 he became minister of railways and canals in the Mackenzie King government. Under him was carried out the consolidation of the component elements of the Canadian National Railways; and his administration gave great promise. It was cut short, however, by his death in Florida, U.S.A., on January 18, 1923 . He married in 1907 Glencora, daughter of George W. Bolton, Detroit, Michigan.

Source : W. Stewart WALLACE, ed., The Encyclopedia of Canada, Vol. III, Toronto, University Associates of Canada, 1948, 396p., p. 327.