Thomas Dick was a

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

citizen, who worked as a sailor, a ship's captain, who later bought and operated

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 ancho ...

's most luxurious hotel. Dick was born in 1809 or 1810, and went to sea at 14 years old, and had earned his master's certificate, and become a

ship's captain A sea captain, ship's captain, captain, master, or shipmaster, is a high-grade licensed mariner who holds ultimate command and responsibility of a merchant vessel.Aragon and Messner, 2001, p.3. The captain is responsible for the safe and efficie ...

, by the time he was 23. He and his wife immigrated to Canada in 1833 or 1834. They first settled in

Niagara-on-the-Lake Niagara-on-the-Lake is a town in Ontario, Canada. It is located on the Niagara Peninsula at the point where the Niagara River meets Lake Ontario, across the river from New York, United States. Niagara-on-the-Lake is in the Niagara Region of On ...

, then a shipbuilding port. Dick seems to have played a role in the shipbuilding there. He commanded the

schooner A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoon ...

''Fanny'' in 1835. He commanded during the

Battle of the Windmill :''The "Battle of the Windmill" is also a fictional battle in the book Animal Farm.'' The Battle of the Windmill was a battle fought in November 1838 in the aftermath of the Upper Canada Rebellion. Loyalist forces of the Upper Canadian government ...

in 1838. Dick started being part owner of the ships he commanded, later owning a small fleet of ships. However, by the 1850, railroads were starting to supplant water travel – at least along the shores of

Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York. The Canada–United States border sp ...

. Dick moved his fleet to the Upper Lakes, and branched out into finance, real estate, and, eventually, running the Queen's Hotel, which he turned into one of Toronto's most luxurious hotels.

References

{{Authority control Canadian hoteliers 1809 births 1874 deaths Immigrants to Upper Canada