• Date of Birth: June 14, 1888
  • Born City: London
  • Born State/Country: England
  • Date of Death: August 18, 1967
  • Death City: Hamilton
  • Death State/Country: ON
  • Married: Doris Lillian Phillips, 1 Jan. 1916; Rosalynde Fuller Osborne, May 1947.
  • Education:

    B.A. Queens Coll., Cambridge, 1910; B.D. Regent's Park Coll. (London, Eng.), 1912; study at Leipzig, Heidelberg, Hamburg, 1912-3; Ph.D., U. Toronto, 1940.

  • Dissertation:

    "Aristophanes and his Audience" (Toronto, 1940).

  • Professional Experience:

    Class, mstr., Bishop's Stortford Coll., 1919-22; prof, class, dept. head, McMaster U., 1929-54; sec.-treas., pres. CAC, 1959-60; chaplain to H.M. forces, German E. Africa, 1916-17; France, 1917-19.

  • Publications:

    "A Kalyx-Crater at McMaster University," Phoenix 2 (1948) 37-44; University and Community in the Canadian Democracy (Hamilton, Ont., 1948).

  • Notes:

    "Clem" Steam's schooling under W. H. D. Rouse at Perse School, Cambridge, invested him with lasting insights into the direct method of teaching Latin and Greek, and with a penchant for grammar and pronunciation. A committed teacher and selfless administrator, a non-publishing scholar, he captivated students with his forays into classical art ("Steam's Urns" was a perennial and cherished offering). His roles as president of the Hamilton Art Gallery and director of extension at McMaster for 16 years helped to win valuable support for the classics from the citizenry and from patrons in Hamilton and the region.

  • Sources:

    WhWhCan (1951-2) 140; E. T. Salmon, Phoenix 21 (1967) 236.

  • Author: Alexander G. McKay