Horace Llewellyn Seymour

(1882.06.11 – 1940.04.21)
SPS, DLS, OLS, ALS, SLS
Commission #048 (1912.04.15)

By the death of Mr. H.L. Seymour, Canada has lost one of her outstanding town planners.

Mr. Seymour was born at Burford, Ontario, in 1882, but later moved with his family to Toronto where he attended high school and university.

In 1903 he graduated from the SPS, Toronto University, and in June of that same year, he joined the staff of the Topographical Survey, Department of the Interior at Ottawa, where he remained until May 1907.

In 1906, Mr. Seymour qualified as a Dominion Land Surveyor and in that capacity he was in charge of survey parties engaged in the subdivision of townships in the western provinces during the years 1907 to 1910 inclusive.

In 1908, he qualified as a provincial land surveyor for Ontario. Later, he similarly qualified for Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Nova Scotia.

In 1912, he returned to Toronto University for post-graduate work and received the degrees of B.A.Sc. (Honours) and C.E.

During the War, he was Assistant to Mr. Thomas Adams, Federal Town Planning Adviser, and was engaged under his direction in the replanning of the devastated area in Halifax. Following this, he was three years in Vancouver as resident engineer for the Town Planning Commission. It is interesting to note that the report prepared on this work was used as a textbook in Canada on the subject of town planning.

In 1925 and 1926, he was in South America surveying for an oil company, and while there was engaged by the City of Maracaibo, Venezuela, to prepare a plan for the proper development of that city.

From 1929 to 1932, he was Director of Town Planning for the province of Alberta. He was also one of the founders of the Town Planning Institute of Canada and was one of its first presidents.

He drafted the New Brunswick Town Planning Act in 1936 and a similar act for Nova Scotia in 1939. He had, in fact, practiced as engineer, surveyor or town planner in all of the provinces in Canada except Prince Edward Island.

During 1939, he was working with the commissions of Fort William and Port Arthur, and had succeeded in having ratified a town planning scheme to be undertaken jointly by both cities. This work was interrupted by his sudden death in April 1940.

H.G. Barber, Association of Ontario Land Surveyors