John Reade

John Reade (November 13, 1837 – March 26, 1919) was an Irish-born Canadian journalist, essayist, and poet once considered "the grand old man of Canadian letters." He is best known as the literary editor of the Montreal Gazette, a position he held for almost 50 years.

Life

John Reade was born in Ballyshannon, Donegal, Ireland, in 1837, the son of Frances Smyth and Joseph Reade. He was educated at Portora School, Enniskillen, and Queen's College, Belfast.

Reade immigrated to the Province of Canada with his parents in 1856, settling in Montreal. Within a year he had founded and was editing Montreal Literary Magazine. In 1859, after beginning studying law, he became rector of Lachute Academy, and began studying theology. He was ordained an Anglican minister in 1865, and served in two parishes (Mascouche and Mansonville) before leaving the ministry in 1867 due to ill health.

Returning to Montreal in 1868, Reade began writing for the Montreal Gazette. In 1870 he became the Gazette's literary editor, and held that position until his death in 1919.

At the Gazette Reade was best known for his weekly column, "Old and New," but he also wrote "hundreds of unsigned editorials, reviews, and articles" for the paper. In addition, he "published poems, essays, translations, or short fiction in virtually all of the major Canadian journals of his day."

Reade was a Fellow of the British Royal Society of Literature, and a founding Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1882. He was a member, and served as president, of both the Society of Canadian Literature and the Society for Historical Studies. He was also a member of the Société littéraire et historique de Québec.