William Lyon Mackenzie was born at Dundee, Scotland 12 March 1795. Arriving in Upper Canada in 1820, he settled first at Dundas and later at Queenston. In 1824 he began publishing the Colonial Advocate, the mouthpiece of the new reform movement.

In the fall of 1824, he relocated his newspaper to Toronto, and in 1828 he was elected to the House of Assembly for York County. His scathing attacks in the press on the Family Compact or local oligarchy resulted in legal suits, threats, and physical assaults. In 1834, he was elected as the first mayor of Toronto.

A leader of the Upper Canada rebellion in 1837, Mackenzie fled to New York immediately after the revolt and established Mackenzie's Gazette, which eventually resulted in his conviction of violation of US neutrality laws. Over the next 10 years he lived in the US, worked as a correspondent for the New York Daily Tribune, and wrote several books.

Following receipt of a government pardon, Mackenzie returned to Canada in 1849 and continued journalistic and political pursuits. He died at Toronto on 28 August 1861.

Source: The Canadian Encyclopedia, 1988