John Roaf Barber (July 5, 1841 – March 3, 1917) was a Canadian businessman and politician, who represented Halton in the

Legislative Assembly of Ontario The Legislative Assembly of Ontario (OLA, french: Assemblée législative de l'Ontario) is the legislative chamber of the Canadian province of Ontario. Its elected members are known as Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs). Bills passed by ...

from 1898 to 1904.

Early life and business career

He was born in

Georgetown, Ontario Georgetown is a large unincorporated community in the town of Halton Hills, Ontario, Canada, in the Regional Municipality of Halton. The town includes several small villages or settlements such as Norval, Limehouse, Stewarttown and Glen William ...

in 1841. His father came to Canada from County Antrim in Northern Ireland in 1822. His father and uncles had established a

paper mill A paper mill is a factory devoted to making paper from vegetable fibres such as wood pulp, old rags, and other ingredients. Prior to the invention and adoption of the Fourdrinier machine and other types of paper machine that use an endless belt, ...

on the Credit River in 1854, after having been involved in woollen milling since 1837. Barber became the manager in 1861, and would become sole owner of the Barber Paper Mills in 1880. The only other paper product supplier in Canada in the 1870s was owned by Alexander Buntin in Valleyfield, Quebec, from which Barber saw an opportunity to expand. In 1876, his brother James, along with John Fitzallen Ellis, established Barber and Ellis, which became one of the largest stationery manufacturers and Wholesalers in Canada. Upon its incorporation in 1883, J.R. Barber purchasing a controlling interest and became its president. In 1881, he helped establish Toronto Paper Manufacturing Company Limited and set up a mill at Cornwall, Ontario. By 1883 this mill was producing newsprint and high quality paper. He visited Europe in 1886 to find alternatives to wood pulp from Quebec, In 1887, together with Charles Riordon, he set up a

pulp mill A pulp mill is a manufacturing facility that converts wood chips or other plant fiber sources into a thick fiber board which can be shipped to a paper mill for further processing. Pulp can be manufactured using mechanical, semi-chemical, or ful ...

in Cornwall to supply

newsprint Newsprint is a low-cost, non-archival paper consisting mainly of wood pulp and most commonly used to print newspapers and other publications and advertising material. Invented in 1844 by Charles Fenerty of Nova Scotia, Canada, it usually has an ...

and high-quality paper to his plant and others. By 1888, he saw the need to upgrade the Georgetown mills to use

hydroelectric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and ...

power, and contracted Brush Electric of Cincinnati, Ohio 4o manufacture and install a

electric generator In electricity generation, a generator is a device that converts motive power (mechanical energy) or fuel-based power (chemical energy) into electric power for use in an external circuit. Sources of mechanical energy include steam turbines, gas ...

and a direct current motor, which operated together with a water turbine already in place. This was believed to be the first industrial application of this technology in Canada. When Ontario Hydro's public network came to Georgetown in 1910, the Barber mills would connect to it three years later. Besides his paper mills, he held high ranking positions in a number of other companies. He was president of many small companies such as Leadville Mining Company in

Leadville, Colorado The City of Leadville is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Statutory city, statutory city that is the county seat, the most populous community, and the only List of municipalities in Colorado, incorporated municipality in Lake County, Colorad ...

, Canadian Brass and Tube works in Toronto, and the Inter-Ocean Mining and Prospecting Company, also in Toronto.

Public life

He also served in the Halton Rifles during 18631905, and saw active duty in 1866 during the Fenian raids. He was Reeve of Georgetown from 1867 to 1876 and was Warden of

Halton County Halton County is a former county in the Canadian province of Ontario, with an area of . It is also one of the oldest counties in Canada. History Halton County is named after Major William Mathew Halton (1746-1823), a British Army officer, who w ...

in 1882. He was elected to the

as a Liberal in

1898 Events January–March * January 1 – New York City annexes land from surrounding counties, creating the City of Greater New York as the world's second largest. The city is geographically divided into five boroughs: Manhattan, B ...

, but was unseated in November 1898 because of charges of

vote buying Vote buying (also referred to as electoral clientelism and patronage politics) occurs when a political party or candidate distributes money or resources to a voter in an upcoming election with the expectation that the voter votes for the actor handi ...

by his agents. He was elected again, by a larger margin, in the subsequent byelection on December 8, 1898, and was reelected with a smaller majority in

1902 Events January * January 1 ** The Nurses Registration Act 1901 comes into effect in New Zealand, making it the first country in the world to require state registration of nurses. On January 10, Ellen Dougherty becomes the world's f ...

. He chose not to stand for reelection in

1905 As the second year of the massive Russo-Japanese War begins, more than 100,000 die in the largest world battles of that era, and the war chaos leads to the 1905 Russian Revolution against Nicholas II of Russia (Shostakovich's 11th Symphony i ...

because of ill health.

Later years

He lived in a grand mansion, Berwick Hall, which was designed by the architect

E. J. Lennox Edward James Lennox (September 12, 1854 – April 15, 1933) was a Toronto-based architect who designed several of the city's most notable landmarks in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, including Old City Hall and Casa Loma. He ...

He retired from business in 1912 following a heart attack the year before. He died in Georgetown in 1917.

External links

Notes and references

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barber, John Roaf 1841 births 1917 deaths Canadian people of English descent Canadians of Ulster-Scottish descent Canadian Presbyterians Ontario Liberal Party MPPs Businesspeople in the pulp and paper industry People from the Regional Municipality of Halton Pre-Confederation Canadian businesspeople Pre-Confederation Ontario people