Business Career
William Workman's first employment was working on the newspapers, Canadian Courant and Montreal Advertiser, owned by his brother, Benjamin. In 1830, he joined another brother, Thomas, in the wholesale hardware house of John Frothingham. By 1836, the Workmans had become full partners, indicating that they had brought some capital into the firm. As well as handling imported items, Frothingham and Workman manufactured some hardware in their Montreal factories which employed hundreds of men. Workman would remain in partnership with Frothingham until his retirement in 1859, and under them it would become Canada's largest tool and hardware wholesale business.
He invested in Canada's first railway, the Champlain and St Lawrence, completed in 1836 and serving as a director. He was one of the largest shareholders in the St Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad when the line was taken over by the Grand Trunk Railway in 1854. By the 1840s, Workman was a very wealthy man. In 1842, he built an impressive mansion in Montreal's Golden Square Mile, which he named 'Mount Prospect'. He had considerable property elsewhere in Montreal, particularly on the western outskirts. From 1849 to 1874, he served as President of Montreal's City Bank. In 1854, he ventured into shipping with several prominent Montreal businessmen, including the Torrances, establishing the Canadian Ocean Steam Navigation Company. A year later, Workman purchased two large steamboats for the St Lawrence trade.
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