Frederic Thomas Nicholls (November 22, 1856 – October 25, 1921) was a Canadian businessman,

electrical engineer Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

and politician. He was a

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

representing the

senatorial division Canadian Senate divisions refers to two aspects of the Senate of Canada. First, it refers to the division of Canada into four regional Senate divisions of 24 senators each, as set out in section 22 of the Constitution Act, 1867.The Constitution Act ...

of Toronto, Ontario from 1917 to 1921. In 1892 Nicholls became second vice-president and general manager of

Canadian General Electric GE Canada (or General Electric Canada) is the wholly-owned Canadian unit of General Electric, manufacturing various consumer and industrial electrical products all over Canada. GE Canada was preceded by the company Canadian General Electric (CG ...

. He was president of the

National Electric Light Association The National Electric Light Association (NELA) was a national United States trade association that included the operators of electric central power generation stations, electrical supply companies, electrical engineers, scientists, educational i ...

of the United States in 1896–97 and brought its annual convention to Niagara Falls, Ontario, in 1897. Frederic Nicholls was a member of

Edison Pioneers The Edison Pioneers was an organization composed of former employees of Thomas Edison who had worked with the inventor in his early years. Membership was limited to people who had worked closely with Edison before 1885. On February 11, 1918, the Ed ...

and

Ontario Hydro Ontario Hydro, established in 1906 as the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario, was a publicly owned electricity utility in the Province of Ontario. It was formed to build transmission lines to supply municipal utilities with electricity ge ...

. He worked on the Toronto Power Company Plant with Dr.

Frederick Stark Pearson Frederick Stark Pearson (July 3, 1861 – May 7, 1915) was an American electrical engineer and entrepreneur. Biography Dr. Frederick Stark Pearson was the son of Ambrose and Hannah (Edgerly) Pearson. He graduated from Tufts University in 1883 w ...

of the Pearson Engineering Corporation of New York. The Toronto Power station was opened in 1906 by the Electrical Development Company of Ontario, led by Toronto Billionaire financier

Henry Pellatt Major-General Sir Henry Mill Pellatt, CVO (January 6, 1859 – March 8, 1939) was a Canadian financier and soldier. He is notable for his role in bringing hydro-electricity to Toronto for the first time, and also for his large château in Toron ...

, who owned that city's

Casa Loma Casa Loma (improper Spanish for "Hill House") is a Gothic Revival castle-style mansion and garden in midtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that is now a historic house museum and landmark. It was constructed from 1911 to 1914 as a residence for fina ...

. Pellatt hired the same architect, Edward J. Lennox to design both his home and his hydroelectric generator in Niagara Falls. Pellatt and partners William Mackenzie and Frederic Thomas Nicholls formed the

Electrical Development Company of Ontario The Toronto Power Generating Station is a former generating station located along the Niagara River in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, slightly upstream from the newer Rankine power station. Completed in 1906 in the Beaux-Arts-style, the sta ...

in 1903, buying water rights from the

Niagara Parks Commission The Niagara Parks Commission, commonly shortened to Niagara Parks, is an agency of the Government of Ontario which maintains the Ontario shoreline of the Niagara River. History The Commission was founded in 1885 and charged with preserving and ...

for $80,000 a year. Nicholls was one of the directors along with William Mackenzie and

Wilmot Deloui Matthews Wilmot Deloui Matthews (22 June 1850 – 24 May 1919) was a Canadian businessman and owner of W. D. Matthews and Company. He also served as a director of Dominion Bank, Hamilton Steel and Iron Company Limited, Canadian Pacific Railway, Can ...

to form the Canadian Shipbuilding Company with capital of $1 million in the early 1900s ($21,733,333 in 2018).

Recognition and influence

The Nicholls Building on King Street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada is named after him including the Nicholls Oval and

Nicholls Lake Nicholls Lake is a lake in Thunder Bay District, Ontario, Canada. It is long and wide. The lake lies on the Whitesand River at an elevation of between Selassie Lake Selassie Lake is a lake in Thunder Bay District, Ontario, Canada, and the s ...

in Ontario. He was also known as an early editor of the

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...

newspaper. Frederic Nicholls's speech of January 19, 1905, to the Empire Club in Toronto was published as Niagara's power: past, present, prospective . . . ( oronto, 1905 reproduced as CIHM, no.78710). A number of his other speeches are in his Conservation of Canadian trade (Toronto, 1918).

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nicholls, Frederic 1856 births 1921 deaths Canadian businesspeople Canadian senators from Ontario English emigrants to Canada Conservative Party of Canada (1867–1942) senators