From: "Canadian Men & Women of the time 1898"
Ed. By Henry James Morgan, Toronto, 1898
Samuer Edward Dawson, Dom. public service, is the 2nd son of the late Rev. Benjamin Dawson, a native of P. E. I., who came to Montreal, 1847, where, towards the close of of his life, he took holy orders, and was ordained a, deacon in the Reformed Episcopal Church, by his wife Miss Gardner, of Halifax.
Born in Halifax, June 1, 1833, he was educated at McCulloch's school,
in that city, and commenced his business career in partnership with his
father, trading as B. Dawson & Son, booksellers
and stationers, Montreal. The firm name, after the retirement
of his father, became Dawson Bros., Samuel
Edward Dawson being the senior partner in association with one of his brothers
was one of the founders of the Dominion Bank Note
Co.,1879, and one of the promoters of the Montreal
News Co., 1880. Appointed a member of the Board
of Protestant School Commissioners, Montreal, 1878, he became also
a member
of the Board of Arts and Manufacturers P.Q.,
and was subsequently for some years President of that body. He was likewise
Secretary to the Art Association He was one of the earliest contributors
to fhe Canadian Monthly.
He has written also on literary and historical subjects
for the Montreal Gazette, the
Montreal
Star, the Toronto Week, and other journals. Of
separate works from his pen, the most important are: " A Sudy of Lord Tennyson's
Poem, "The Princess' " (2nd ed. 1884), which W.L.
LeSueur has pronounced the best and most appreciative study
of the poem that has anywhere appeared; and two monographs on the voyages
of the Cabots and the Land-Fall of 1397, which were read before the
Royal Society of Canada, of which body
he was elected a Fellow in 1893. He received the honorary
degree of Lit. D. from
Laval University in 1890; and was appointed
Queen's Printer and Controller of Stationery of Canada,
Nov. 7, 1891. This office he still fills. In 1881 he
was appointed. a deligate to Washington on the subject of International
copyright. Dr. Dawson is a member of the Anglican Church.
He married Annie M. Bent, daughter of Gilbert
Bent, of St. John, N. B.
address 277 Cooper St., Ottawa.