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Perkins Bull Collection
Introduction to the Collection and Biography of William Perkins Bull
By Diane Allengame-Kuster, Registrar and Brian Gilchrist, Reference Archivist.
[revised to January 2006].
 William Perkins Bull was born in 1870 in Downsview, Ontario. His parents, Bartholomew Hill Bull and Sarah ( Duncan ) Bull moved to Chinguacousy Township, Peel County shortly thereafter and established a Jersey cattle breeding operation as B. H. Bull and Son. W. P. Bull grew up at "Hawthorne Lodge" on the Bull farm just east of Brampton, and received his early education at the Broddytown school. He attended Brampton High School, Victoria College and Osgoode Hall where he received his law degree. Called to the Bar in 1897, he was appointed King's Counsel in 1908 and practised law in Toronto with the firm of Bull, Hollis and Wilson of which he was a partner. In 1911 he, his wife Maria (Brennan) and children moved to England.
During World War I, Bull oversaw the operation of the Perkins Bull Convalescent Hospital for Canadian officers at Putney Heath in London. After the war, Bull continued his law practice and was involved in various business and real estate dealings, travelling between his Toronto home "Lorne Hall" in Rosedale, " Bartle Castle " in Cuba and his home in London. When a serious car accident around 1930 curtailed some of his activities, he turned his attention to the history of the county where he was raised.
Bull had the research compiled for his books by dispatching teams of both paid and volunteer researchers to interview residents, transcribe cemetery headstones, and examine church registers, newspapers, government records and private papers. Many families of settlers responded with both textual and photographic material.
Between 1931 and 1941 the Perkins Bull Historical Series was published, consisting of:
 M 'n N Canadiana , (1931, 2nd. ed. 1934) - From Medicine Man to Medical Man (1934)
- From Rattlesnake Hunt to Hockey (1934)
- The Perkins Bull Collection -- Historical Paintings by Canadian Artists Illustrating Pioneers and Pioneering in the County of Peel (1934, 2nd ed. 1935)
- From Brock to Currie (1935)
- Spadunk - From Paganism to Davenport United (1935)
- From Hummingbird to Eagle (1936)
- From the Boyne to Brampton (1936)
- From Spring to Autumn (1937)
- From Amphibians to Reptiles (1938)
- From Strachan to Owen (1938, 2nd ed. 1939)
- From MacDonell to McGuigan (1939).
- From Oxford to Toronto (1941)
His son-in-law Harry Symons wrote Fences in 1958, based on Bull's manuscript From Roots to Railings. Other planned works unpublished at the time of Bull's death were From Forest to Farmstead, From Adam to Us, From Hemisphere to Hamlet, From Booze to Business, From Cumberland to Canada, From Revolution to Repulsion, From Rebellion to Confederation and Hitherto: An Autobiography of William Perkins Bull.
William Perkins Bull died on Wednesday, June 30th, 1948 at Niagara-on-the-Lake , Ontario . He was buried beside his wife (Maria Scott Brennan Bull) at Davenport Road United Church (formerly known as Davenport Methodist Church , currently known (2004) as Davenport – Perth Community Church ). Their graves are easily identified by light grey coloured solid granite tomb covers being the full length and width of each plot. However, the only means of identification is by their initials: “W. P. B.” and “M. S. B.” being engraved on the north end of each cover, being located very close to the ground. The graves are located in a walled, gated enclosure in which there is also a large Celtic Cross mounted into the rear wall. Details of the Bull family genealogy are inscribed on cement panels to either side of the cross.
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The Collection
Bull's collection of research notes, photographs and works of art was divided between several institutions by the Perkins Bull Foundation. The Archives of Ontario received approximately half of the textual and graphic material in two accruals, once in 1947 and one in 1961. Other material was dispersed to the General Synod Archives of the Anglican Church; the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto Archives; United Church/Victoria College Archives; and Trent University. Work on reunifying the collection began in the 1980s, and by 1993, the majority of publicly available materials (with the exception of one small collection at The National Archives of Canada, Ottawa ) were under the care of the Region of Peel Archives. In 2003 several boxes of material were added to the collection with more accessions from the same private source being anticipated in the future.
The fonds consist of files generated in the research for and writing both published and unpublished works of Bull's books. Records include correspondence, drafts, graphic material, cartographic material, transcriptions, and notes. Subjects include William Perkins Bull's autobiography, cemetery transcriptions, education, families, justice, land registry, military, mills, native people, natural history, churches, societies, organizations and groups, temperance movement, as well as towns, villages and townships of Peel County.
Back to Region of Peel Archives
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