William Wilfred Campbell Appreciation Society - Poetry & Arts Festival

His early poems were accepted by significant periodicals in the United States and Canada. One of them, titled The Mother, was read aloud in the House of Commons by Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald and later in the Senate.

Married, he and his wife, Louisa, had four children: three daughters and one son. His eldest daughter, Margery, married George Grey, a cousin of the 4th Earl Grey, Governor General of Canada, who gave us the famous Grey Cup. Their son, Harry, Wilfred’s grandson had two boys, Richard and Philip, who unexpectedly inherited the Earldom. In 1963, Richard became the 6th Earl Grey and when he died, his brother, Philip became the present 7th Earl Grey.

That he’d posthumously become the great-grandfather of two Earls would have greatly satisfied Wilfred. He was an ardent lover of the British and their Empire, penning many so-called rather embarrassing Imperial poems, which contributed to his early neglect in the years immediately following his death.

Today, his lake poems are being re-evaluated more favorably. Wiarton proudly remembered its famous son, erecting a memorial cairn to him in 1937, and a successor in 1967, which stands today in the town’s Bluewater Park. In 1938, Ottawa proclaimed him A Person of National Historic Significance.

Born in Kitchener his parents were the Anglican Rev. Thomas Swainton Campbell and Matilda Wright. Wilfred, at age 11, was the second oldest of their five sons when the church posted the family to the Northern Mission of Wiarton, pop. 200.

Growing up, he became a school teacher in Zion and Purple Valley to earn money to attend the University of Toronto, Wycliffe Divinity College and shortly afterwards Episcopal Theological College in Cambridge, Massachusetts. After he graduated, for five years he served parishes in New Hampshire, New Brunswick and Southampton, Ontario. In a temporary crisis of faith he left the church there and became a federal Civil Servant.

A poet’s mission, he said, should be for the betterment of mankind, a duty to express high ideals, and be of value to society.

Our annual festival (founded by the late Paul Kastner seen in the photo above) in June, his birth month, is built on the premise that William Wilfred Campbell, one of our own, needs honoring as an important historical and cultural Canadian figure.

Society Objectives:

To preserve the memory of the famous Wiarton poet, William Wilfred Campbell, 1861-1918, as a valuable Canadian and municipal historical/cultural treasure.

To foster the education of the public, amateur poets, and students as to the value and power of poetry and arts within Bruce and Grey Counties.

To assist with the annual William Wilfred Campbell Poetry & Arts Festival