Hugh Cossart Baker Jr. (9 December 1846, in

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...

, Canada West – 18 March 1931) was a businessman and telephone pioneer. On June 20, 1877, Baker started up the first commercial telephone service in Canada in the city of

Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario. Hamilton has a 2021 Canadian census, population of 569,353 (2021), and its Census Metropolitan Area, census metropolitan area, which encompasses ...

. Then in 1878, he made the first telephone exchange in the

British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...

. This was also the second telephone exchange in all of North America. The following season on 15 May 1879 he made Hamilton the site of the first commercial long-distance telephone line in the British Empire. In 1880, (April 29) Hugh Cossart Baker Jr. received a charter to build a national telephone company in

. It was called the ''Hamilton Telephone Company'' and this was the charter that enabled the creation of the

Bell Telephone The Bell System was a system of telecommunication companies, led by the Bell Telephone Company and later by the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T), that dominated the telephone services industry in North America for over 100 years f ...

Company in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. Hugh Cossart Baker Jr. became the manager of the Ontario division until he retired in 1909. The first telephone had been leased to Prime Minister Alexander Mackenzie in September 1877. Baker learned of

Alexander Graham Bell Alexander Graham Bell (; born Alexander Bell; March 3, 1847 – August 2, 1922) was a Scottish-born Canadian Americans, Canadian-American inventor, scientist, and engineer who is credited with patenting the first practical telephone. He als ...

's invention in 1877 at the Philadelphia International Exposition and from there decided to test the communication tool in Hamilton. He leased four telephones for himself and his chess partners and on August 29, 1877, the telephone replaced the telegraph as the means to discuss their chess moves. Baker is also credited with helping to create the

Hamilton Street Railway The Hamilton Street Railway (HSR) is the public transport agency for Hamilton, Ontario. The name is a legacy of the company's early period, when public transit in Hamilton was primarily served by streetcars. Although streetcars are no longer us ...

Company, the Hamilton Real Estate Association and the Canada Fire and Marine Insurance Company - all before he was 30 years old. His father, Hugh Cossart Baker Sr., established the first life insurance company in Canada on 21 August 1847; the

Canada Life Assurance Company The Canada Life Assurance Company (French language, French: ''La Compagnie d'Assurance du Canada sur la Vie''), commonly known as Canada Life (''Canada-Vie''), is a Canadian insurance and financial services company with its headquarters in Winnipe ...

External links

Hamilton Gallery of Distinction: Hugh Cossart Baker, Jr.
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References

1846 births 1931 deaths Businesspeople from Hamilton, Ontario Pre-Confederation Ontario people {{Canada-engineer-stub