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Western's multi-generation graduates - Kingsmill family's deep roots

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No one’s roots stretch deeper or wider at Western than those of A.S. (Peter) Kingsmill. His great grandfather owned the 150-acre property over which much of the university campus now rambles.

Still, that connection didn’t turn the head of the young Peter Kingsmill when he went looking for higher education.

“I never really gave it a thought,” says Peter (HBA’50) about attending school where the family farm once stood. “I went to Western because it was the university I wanted to go to and it was a great school. Western was a fabulous experience.”

As a student Kingsmill recalls a dining hall conversation with university president Dr. G. E. Hall and learning one campus building was built on the foundation of the old Kingsmill barn. “I found that kind of interesting at the time but I didn’t think much about it. I never told anybody.”

The first of four generations of Kingsmill to attend Western included Captain Henry Ardagh Kingsmill, who graduated from medicine in 1895. A surgeon in the Canadian Army Medical Corps he died as a result of the First World War. His memory is honored on a plaque in University College.

Ardagh Sidney Kingsmill followed in 1925, a member of the first class to graduate from buildings on the current site.

Peter graduated with a gold medal in business and his sister Sheila graduated in Medicine in 1955. Peter says he never felt family pressure to maintain the Western-going tradition.

After graduation Peter moved to Toronto, earned a law degree and practiced law. Still, when his son Andrew went looking for a school, he too picked Western. “Well, he was going to university and some of his friends were going to Western and he thought it was a neat idea.”

So, will a fifth generation Kingsmill attend Western? 

“You never know. They aren’t old enough yet but I certainly have a lot of very bright grandchildren.”

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