#1Politics & Law
Lyman Duff
1865–19558th Chief Justice of Canada
8 Wikipedia and sister-site articlesWikipedia ↗
Famous people · Meaford, Ontario
Leaders stand out among the 21 famous people born in Meaford
Lyman Duff is the best known, with articles in 8 languages. Born in 1842, John McDougall is the first name on record, and Brent Laing, born in 1978, the most recent. Between Confederation and 1913, 9 were born, the most of any period. Births since 1970 account for 2 of the names.
Born here
21
confirmed by Wikipedia
Best known
Lyman Duff
8 Wikipedia and sister-site articles
First
1842
John McDougall
Youngest
1978
Brent Laing
Most common field
Politics & Law
12 people
★ What stands out · Known for
What Meaford is known for
Compared with the usual town, leaders are the most over-represented field, at 2.6 times.
The usual town is the share across everyone listed in Canadian towns. Tap a field to see its people.
The best known
Born in Meaford
Two of the three are athletes.
#1
#2
#3Through the years
When Meaford’s famous people were born
No decade has more births than the 1890s, at 4.
Politics & LawSportsWriting & ArtsMusic
Each dot is a person, stacked by the decade they were born.
Everyone
Everyone else born in Meaford
A further 18 follow, born between 1842 and 1971.
Claude Bissell
1916–2000Canadian historian, author, and university president
Writing & ArtsWikipedia ↗
No one matches both filters.
Next door
Famous people from the towns next door
Questions about famous people from Meaford
Who is the most famous person from Meaford?
Next come Brent Laing and Darren Pang.
How many famous people were born in Meaford?
25 are placed here on Wikidata; the rest have no article to confirm it.
What is Meaford known for?
57% here, set against 22% for Canadian towns.
Who is the earliest-born famous person from Meaford?
The earliest is John McDougall, born in 1842, and the latest birth listed is 1978.
Who counts as from Meaford?
What counts is a birth that Wikidata places inside Meaford’s municipal boundary (Statistics Canada’s 2021 census subdivision), its hospitals and districts too, and that the person’s English or French Wikipedia article repeats. Adult performers, people known chiefly for crimes and those who only lived here are not on the list.
Why is someone missing?
The likeliest reasons: a birthplace recorded only as a province or as Canada, a hamlet or rural area with no page of its own, or an article that gives another place or none. Fixing Wikidata or Wikipedia brings them onto the list at the next refresh, as long as the two then agree.
Birthplaces, descriptions, years, occupations and the count of Wikipedia and sister-site articles come from Wikidata (CC0). Each birthplace is checked against the person’s English Wikipedia article, or the French one where English says nothing or has no article; the articles are linked, never quoted. Wikidata’s Statistics Canada code, the place’s name or its point inside the 2021 census outline puts a birth in a town, and a birth given only as a split city stays on that city’s page. Fields are read from the description and occupations, and the list runs by number of articles. “The usual town” is everyone listed across Canadian towns. Portraits: each person’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Photo credits (8)
- Lyman Duff: Topley Studio, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Brent Laing: Fabien Perissinotto, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Darren Pang: CTV_broadcasting_team.jpg : www.VancityAllie.com derivative work: Tabercil, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Bill Murdoch: Tabercil, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Clarence Owen Cooper: DarylCooper61, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Glenn Smith: Unknown author, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- James Conmee: William Cochrane (1831-1898) and John Castell Hopkins (1864-1923), Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- John McDougall: Unknown author, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).