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Horace L. Seymour
By the death of Mr. H.L. Seymour,
Canada has lost one of her outstanding town planners.
Mr. Seymour was born at Burford, Ontario, in 1882, but later
moved with his family to Toronto where he attended high school
and university.
In 1903 he graduated from the SPS, Toronto University, and in
June of that same year, he joined the staff of the Topographical
Survey, Department of the Interior at Ottawa, where he remained
until May 1907.
In 1906, Mr. Seymour qualified as a Dominion Land Surveyor and
in that capacity he was in charge of survey parties engaged in
the subdivision of townships in the western provinces during the
years 1907 to
1910
inclusive.
In 1908, he qualified as a provincial land surveyor for Ontario.
Later, he similarly qualified for Alberta, Saskatchewan, and
Nova Scotia.
In
1912,
he returned to Toronto University for post-graduate work and
received the degrees of B.A.Sc. (Honours) and C.E.
During the War, he was Assistant to Mr. Thomas Adams, Federal
Town Planning Adviser, and was engaged under his direction in
the replanning of the devastated area in Halifax. Following this,
he was three years in Vancouver as resident engineer for the
Town Planning Commission. It is interesting to note that the
report prepared on this work was used as a textbook in Canada on
the subject of town planning.
In 1925
and
1926,
he was in South America surveying for an oil company, and while
there was engaged by the City of Maracaibo, Venezuela, to
prepare a plan for the proper development of that city.
From
1929 to
1932,
he was Director of Town Planning for the province of Alberta.
He was also one of the founders of the Town Planning Institute
of Canada and was one of its first presidents.
He drafted the New Brunswick Town Planning Act in
1936
and a similar act for Nova Scotia in
1939.
He had, in fact, practiced as engineer, surveyor or town planner
in all of the provinces in Canada except Prince Edward Island.
During
1939, he was working with the commissions of Fort William and
Port Arthur, and had succeeded in having ratified a town
planning scheme to be undertaken jointly by both cities. This
work was interrupted by his sudden death in April
1940.
H.G. Barber,
Association of Ontario Land Surveyors
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