Fonds 1464 - Langton (John) Family fonds

John Langton (1808-1894) was a public servant in Canada during the latter half of the nineteenth century, serving as Auditor-General and Deputy Minister of Finance.

John Langton (1808-1894) was born in Blythe, Lancashire, England, the son of Thomas and Ellen Langton. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, and immigrated to Canada in 1834. He originally settled about thirty miles north west of Peterborough, on Sturgeon Lake(near Fenelon Falls), and named his homestead Blythe, after his birthplace. He later moved to Peterborough and Toronto. He began as a farmer, and later became a partner of his brother in law Mosson Boyd in the lumbering business.

From 1851 to 1855 John Langton was a representative in the Legislative Assembly, first for the United Counties of Peterborough and Victoria, and then for the County of Peterborough. In 1855 the MacNab- Tache government appointed him the first Auditor of Public Accounts. Langton was also appointed to the Senate of the University of Toronto, and was elected Vice-Chancellor in the same year. At Confederation, he was appointed Auditor-General and Deputy Minister of Finance, posts which he held until he retired in 1878.

Ellen Langton (1766-1846), wife of Thomas, mother of William, Anne and John; daughter of Reverend William Currer, Rector of St. James the Apostle parish church, Clapham, in Yorkshire. The Currers were a noted Yorkshire family with connections to the literary Brontës. She emigrated to Canada in 1837.

Hugh Hornby Langton, librarian, editor, historian, translator (born at Québec City 29 Aug 1862; died at Toronto 30 Sept 1953), son of John Langton. Educated at the University of Toronto, he was the first full-time registrar of the university 1887-92 and its librarian 1892-1923. He established the library on a firm footing after the fire of 1890, and he developed the collection, staff, services, procedures and traditions from which the present system has grown.

He also brought high standards to his role as the first general editor of the university's scholarly publishing program, 1897-1923, and as joint editor with George M. Wrong of the Chronicles of Canada (32 vols 1914-16) and of the Review of Historical Publications Relating to Canada (1897-1919), which at his initiative became the Canadian Historical Review. After retiring in 1923 he continued to translate for the Champlain Society, to edit and to write biographies. His last publication was an edition of journals and letters of his aunt Anne Langton, "A Gentlewoman in Upper Canada" (1950).

William Langton was the eldest brother of John Langton. He became a highly successful banker in Manchester, England and a noted social reformer and connoisseur of the arts.