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About William Cayley
- William Cayley (May 26, 1807 – February 23, 1890) was a lawyer and political figure in Canada West. He was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia in 1807, the son of a British consul, and studied in England.
- He was called to the bar in 1835 and subsequently came to Upper Canada where he was admitted to the bar in 1838.
- In 1836, he married Emma Robinson, the daughter of D'Arcy Boulton.
- He opened a practice in Toronto, later partnering with Matthew Crooks Cameron.
- In 1845, he was chosen as Inspector General, a post in the Executive Council, and elected to the Legislative Assembly in a by-election held in Huron in 1846 and was reelected in 1848.
- He was defeated in the 1851 election, but elected again in Huron and Bruce in 1854, serving on the Board of Railway Commissioners and once again as Inspector General.
- In 1855, Cayley introduced the Audit Act which established an auditor of public accounts and the Audit Board, a new government department.
- He was elected one more time in an 1858 by-election for Renfrew; he retired from politics in 1861.
- He served as a director of the Bank of Upper Canada and was president in 1861.
- He served as Auditor General for the province of Ontario from 1870 to 1877.
- Cayley died in Toronto in 1890. His son Hugh Cayley became a Member of the Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly serving from 1886 until 1894.
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