Frederic William Howay
Canadian historian, lawyer and jurist

Frederic William Howay (November 25, 1867 – October 4, 1943), also spelled Frederick, was a Canadian historian, lawyer, and jurist.
Biography
Born in London, Ontario, Howay moved to British Columbia as a child. After attending school in New Westminster, Howay wrote his Provincial Teachers' exam in 1884 in Victoria, British Columbia. He spent three years teaching at schools in Canoe Pass and Boundary Bay. In 1887, he studied law at Dalhousie University and received a Bachelor of Law degree in 1890. He was called to the British Columbia bar in 1891. In 1907, he was appointed a Judge of County Court of New Westminster. He retired in 1937.
In 1933, he was awarded the Royal Society of Canada's J. B. Tyrrell Historical Medal. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the Royal Geographical Society and the Royal Historical Society.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Frederic William Howay” is canadian historian, lawyer and jurist. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Frederic, William and Howay, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “canadian historian, lawyer and jurist” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5497168. VIAF identifies the subject as 43080539. The Library of Congress control number is n50029071. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1867, 1943, 1884 and 1887.
Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Frederic William Howay”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Frederic William Howay primary sources, Frederic William Howay archive and Frederic research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Frederic William Howay”?
- How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
- Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Frederic William Howay” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.