William Jaffray

William Jaffray (6March 183229September 1896) was an English-born publisher and politician in Waterloo County, Ontario, Canada. He served as the mayor of Berlin, Ontario (which is now known as Kitchener) from 1882 to 1883. Biography William Jaffray was born on 6 March 1832 in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. His father, Peter Jaffray, was born in 1800 in Stirlingshire, Scotland. Peter was educated at the University of Glasgow and became involved in the publishing industry through working for the Edinburgh printing and publishing firm of Oliver and Boyd. After moving to Shrewsbury, Peter then worked for the Shrewsbury Chronicle for twenty-two years, later starting the Shrewsbury News. He married Mary Ann Gittins, who had been born in Shrewsbury, and together they had eight children, most of them also born in Shrewsbury. William was the second child and also their eldest son. In his youth, he attended the Diocesan School in Shrewsbury for one year. In 1844, Peter Jaffray immigrated to the Goderich area of Canada West, hoping to become a gentleman farmer. On his way, he passed through the town of Galt in Dumfries Township. After arriving to his destination, however, he quickly came to dislike the pioneer lifestyle, and began to search for alternatives. He considered joining the fledgling Toronto Globe, which under its founder and editor, George Brown, was a leading voice for the Reform movement in Upper Canada, which advocated for liberal political reforms in the wake of the Upper Canada Rebellion of 1837. Instead, he opted to join the newly-founded Dumfries Courier, which was published out of Galt for distribution in Dumfries Township. The township had been originally settled in 1816 under the direction of William Dickson, who named it after his hometown, the burgh of Dumfries in Scotland, and drew the first wave of settlers primarily from Roxburghshire and Selkirkshire in Scotland. The Dumfries Courier began publication in the summer of 1844 and shared its name with another contemporary newspaper which was published in Annan, Dumfriesshire, Scotland.