William Perkins Bull, K.C., LL.D. 1870-1948
Text from the plaque
Financier, philanthropist and historian William Perkins Bull was born in Downsview, Ontario, in 1870. Bull attended Osgoode Hall Law School and was called to the bar in 1896. He established a law practice but soon broadened his interests to include oil, lumber and land speculation. His business interests took him to England where, during the First World War, he and his wife Maria Brennan Bull established a convalescent hospital for wounded Canadian officers. Following the war he returned to Canada to continue his legal and business affairs. In 1931 Bull's interest in history was spurred when he assembled a library of rare books by Canadian authors. He began a study of Peel County's history that eventually grew into ten published volumes on Peel's cultural and natural history. Perkins Bull was considered ahead of his time in recognizing the historical value of oral and written accounts, photographs, everyday objects and the built environment. He collected pioneer artefacts and Canadian art and much of this collection, including his research, is preserved at the Peel Heritage Complex in Brampton.
Transcribed from the marker, not summarised.
Find the place
The Region of Peel
The City of Brampton
At the Peel Art Gallery, Museum and Archives
Wellington Street East, east of Main Street South
N 43 41.125 W 79 45.441
Recorded May 2008. Check current access before visiting.
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Visitors' notes
November 8, 2012
William Perkins Bull is my great grandfather, a man of brilliance. We need more people in this world like him. Respect grandfather wish you where here, never met you but feels like I known you for all my life. Ryan Thomas Pennell