George Laidlaw (February 28, 1828 – August 6, 1889) was a businessman who promoted the development of

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...

railways Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

and was invaluable in the chartering of the Toronto and Nipissing (with which his own

Victoria Railway The Victoria Railway was a long Canadian railway that operated in Central Ontario. Construction under Chief Engineer James Ross began in 1874 from Lindsay, Ontario, with authority to build through Victoria County to Haliburton, Ontario, to w ...

would soon compete) and the Toronto, Grey and Bruce railways in 1868. From then until his retirement in 1881, he continued to promote the initiation or extension of several other local railways, and proposed a grand plan for uniting the independent railways of southern

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

into a competitive alternative to the

Grand Trunk Railway The Grand Trunk Railway (; french: Grand Tronc) was a railway system that operated in the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario and in the American states of Connecticut, Maine, Michigan, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont. The rail ...

. Though it was met with minimal success at the time, the idea was the backbone of what was to become the Canadian Pacific Railway. Born in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

, Laidlaw moved to Canada in 1855 at the age of 37 and took a position with

Gooderham and Worts Gooderham and Worts, also known as Gooderham & Worts Limited, was a Canadian distiller of alcoholic beverages. It was once one of the largest distillers in Canada. The company was merged in 1926 with Hiram Walker & Sons Ltd., and the merged fir ...

distillery in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

, Ontario. Seeing the potential market for local railways in the midst of the Grand Trunk Railway's monopoly, and the lack of accessibility into rural

Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada (french: link=no, province du Haut-Canada) was a part of British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of th ...

by road and water, Laidlaw began to promote the idea of a 3 foot, 6 inch railway as an alternative to the more expensive standard gauge of 5 feet, 6 inches. Following the formation of the Toronto & Nipissing Railway and the Toronto, Grey and Bruce Railway, Laidlaw sought out investment for the railways, while also promoting the initializations and extensions of several independent railways, such as the

Credit Valley Railway The Credit Valley Railway was a railway located in Ontario, Canada from Toronto to St. Thomas. Chartered in 1871 by Ontario railway magnate George Laidlaw, it operated as an independent company until 1883 when it was leased by the Ontario and Que ...

which was planned from Toronto to St. Thomas and the

, an extension of the

Port Hope, Lindsay and Beaverton Railway The Midland Railway of Canada was a historical Canadian railway which ran from Port Hope, Ontario to Midland on Georgian Bay. The line was originally intended to run to Peterborough, but the competing Cobourg and Peterborough Railway was complet ...

(Later the

Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had its headquarters. It ama ...

before being absorbed by the Grand Trunk Railway) which was planned from Lindsay to the Upper

Ottawa Valley The Ottawa Valley is the valley of the Ottawa River, along the boundary between Eastern Ontario and the Outaouais, Quebec, Canada. The valley is the transition between the Saint Lawrence Lowlands and the Canadian Shield. Because of the surroun ...

. His son,

colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge o ...

George E. Laidlaw (b. 1860, d. 1927), originally a railbuilder, fought in the North-West Rebellion, as well as in the

Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sou ...

as an officer. During his time in South Africa, he collected artifacts for the

Toronto Normal School The Toronto Normal School was a teachers college in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Opened in 1847, the Normal School was located at Church and Gould streets in central Toronto (after 1852), and was a predecessor to the current Ontario Institute for ...

and its curator David Boyle. Laidlaw had previously donated many archaeological and ethnographic artifacts from across Canada to Boyle.Michelle A Hamilton, ''Collections and Objections: Aboriginal Material Culture in Southern Ontario,'' Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2010. George Laidlaw retired to his estate at St. Mary's on Balsam Lake in 1881, one station from the northern terminus of the Toronto and Nipissing Railway at

Coboconk Coboconk, often shortened to Coby, is a community in the city of Kawartha Lakes, in the south-central portion of the Canadian province of Ontario. The village lies at the junction of Highway 35 and former Highway 48, on the northern tip of ...

. He died there in 1889.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Laidlaw, George 1828 births 1889 deaths Canadian people in rail transport Canadian railway entrepreneurs 19th-century Canadian businesspeople People from Sutherland Midland Railway of Canada