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William Howard South

Canadian politician

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 16, 2025
Entity authorityQ8012580 ↗
Source-derived summary

William Howard South (died September 1777) was a political figure in Nova Scotia. He represented Halifax County in the Legislative Assembly of Nova Scotia from 1773 to 1777.

He was married twice: first to Lydia Franklyn in 1756 and then to Cicely Gafford In 1775. South was a major in the Halifax militia. He was elected to the assembly in a 1773 by-election held after John Newton's seat was declared vacant for non-attendance. South was named provost marshal for Nova Scotia in 1777 during the suspension of John Fenton. He died in office and was buried in Halifax.

References

Public Archives of Nova Scotia (1984). Elliott, Shirley B. (ed.). The Legislative Assembly of Nova Scotia, 1758-1983: A biographical directory.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “William Howard South” as canadian politician. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around William, Howard and South.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1777, 1773, 1756, 1775—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with William, Howard and South providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “William Howard South”, the useful work is to connect “canadian politician” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 16, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q8012580. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1777, 1773, 1756 and 1775.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. 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.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
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Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “William Howard South”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow William Howard South primary sources, William Howard South archive and William research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “William Howard South” 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.