The Farmer's Joint Stock Bank was a bank that operated in
Upper Canada, and later in the
Province of Canada, from 1834 to 1854.
History
Following the 1821 legalization of
small notes and
bills of exchange in Upper Canada, the Bank was formed in 1834 as a
private bank by George Truscott and John Cleveland Green in
Toronto,
Upper Canada.
Francis Hincks
Sir Francis Hincks, (December 14, 1807 – August 18, 1885) was a Canadian businessman, politician, and British colonial administrator. An immigrant from Ireland, he was the Co-Premier of the Province of Canada (1851–1854), Governor of Barb ...
, a journalist and colonial administrator, was invited to become its first cashier. In 1835, it was taken over by a group of
Reformers
A reformer is someone who works for reform.
Reformer may also refer to:
*Catalytic reformer, in an oil refinery
*Methane reformer, producing hydrogen
* Steam reformer
*Hydrogen reformer, extracting hydrogen
*Methanol reformer, producing hydrogen f ...
and constituted as a
joint-stock company
A joint-stock company is a business entity in which shares of the company's capital stock, stock can be bought and sold by shareholders. Each shareholder owns company stock in proportion, evidenced by their share (finance), shares (certificates ...
called the Farmers' Joint Stock Banking Company by
deed of settlement
In corporate governance, a company's articles of association (AoA, called articles of incorporation in some jurisdictions) is a document which, along with the memorandum of association (in cases where it exists) form the company's constituti ...
. The first board of directors appointed John Elmsley, a member of the
Family Compact, to be its first president, which forced Hincks and other Reform investors to leave and found the
Bank of the People
The Bank of the People was created by radical Reform politicians James Lesslie, James Hervey Price, and Dr John Rolph in Toronto in 1835. It was founded after they failed to establish a "Provincial Loan Office" in which farmers could borrow s ...
in December 1835. When Upper Canada moved in 1837 to restrict the ability of institutions other than incorporated banks to issue their own
banknotes, the Bank was exempted.
A
financial crisis that affected Upper Canada in 1837 resulted in a suspension of the Bank's activities for two months at the end of that year. In 1838, it was barred from issuing
banknotes that were not payable on demand.
Economic conditions, together with poor management and political intrigue, led to a move by the board to
wind up the Bank in January 1844, which was not completed until December 1848 with its sale to new owners. William Brown Phipps, who had been Manager since 1841, returned to become Manager of the revived Bank in March 1849. In June 1849, it flooded Toronto and Buffalo with new issues of its banknotes, which were subsequently boycotted by merchants. It was finally closed in 1854.
File:Farmers-joint-stock-banking-toronto-1835-5.jpg, $5/25s. note, as valued under the Halifax rating, from 1835
File:Farmers-green-bay-1849-5.jpg, $5 note issued in 1849 from its Green Bay, Wisconsin
Green Bay is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The county seat of Brown County, it is at the head of Green Bay (known locally as "the bay of Green Bay"), a sub-basin of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the Fox River. It is above sea lev ...
office
Sources
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Notes
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Farmer's Bank Of York, Upper Canada
Defunct banks of Canada
1834 establishments in Upper Canada
Banks established in 1834
Banks disestablished in 1854
1854 disestablishments in Canada
Canadian companies established in 1834