PROCEEDINGS FOR 1916 XIII 
WILLIAM FREDERICK KING 
The Royal Society of Canada has lost one of its most eminent 
fellows by the death on Easter Sunday, April 23, 1916 of Dr. William 
Frederick King, C.M.G., the Chief Astronomer of Canada and Director 
of the Dominion Observatory. 
Though a most reticent and unassuming man, Dr. King’s sterling 
qualities and great ability combined with a kindly and lovable dis- 
position had endeared him to a wide circle of friends among the 
members of the Royal Society and elsewhere, and the news of his 
death came with a great shock and a sense of personal loss to all who 
had been associated with him. 
The record of his activities and of his services to science and to 
his country is a long and brilliant one. During his lifetime, besides 
his scientific work and services, he held many positions of trust and 
responsibility, representing the Dominion Government in negotia- 
tions of great importance with other nations, and these positions were 
always filled in an eminently satisfactory manner. 
He was born at Stowmarket, Suffolk, England, Feb. 19, 1854, 
and came to Canada with his parents in 1862, settling at Port Hope. 
He attended the Grammar School at Port Hope matriculating in arts 
at the University of Toronto in 1869. At the close of his third year he 
was appointed to a position on the staff of the International Boundary 
Survey, thus beginning at the age of eighteen what was an important 
part of his life’s work. He returned to the University in December, 
1874, and graduated with the degree of B.A. in 1875, with high honours, 
obtaining the gold medal in mathematics, his standing in the class lists 
never having been surpassed. Dr. King’s mathematical attainments 
are widely recognized and much of his success has been due to his 
rapid grasp of all methematical questions and to the closely allied 
faculty of logical and accurate analysis in problems of other kinds. 
In 1876 he was admitted to the standing of a Dominion Land Sur- 
veyor and a Topographical Surveyor being the first to receive the 
latter commission. In 1904 he was given the honorary degree of 
LL.D. by his alma mater. He was elected to Fellowship in the Royal 
Society in 1908 and to the Presidency, the highest scientific honour in 
Canada, in 1911. In 1909 he was made a Fellow of the Royal Astro- 
nomical Society of Canada of which he had been Honorary President 
since 1906; and was a member of several other learned and scientific 
Societies. 
He entered the services of the Dominion Government on Sept. 
1, 1872, as previously stated and, except for the few months in 1875 
when he obtained his degree, his services have since been continuously 
