Sir Thomas James Tait (24 July 1864 – 25 July 1940) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

-born rail executive. Born in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, the son of

Melbourne McTaggart Tait Sir Melbourne McTaggart Tait, (May 20, 1842 – February 19, 1917) was a Canadian lawyer and judge. Born in Melbourne, Canada East, he studied at St Francis College and received a Bachelor of Civil Law degree from McGill University in 1862. ...

, Tait entered the service of 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 rai ...

in 1880, and by 1903 he was manager of transportation with

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...

company. In March 1903 Tait was appointed Chairman of Commissioners of the

Victorian Railways The Victorian Railways (VR), trading from 1974 as VicRail, was the state-owned operator of most rail transport in the Australian state of Victoria from 1859 to 1983. The first railways in Victoria were private companies, but when these companie ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

with a salary of £3000 per annum. During seven years in Victoria he turned an annual deficit into a profit, improved and increased the railways' rolling stock, and initiated electrification of the railways of Melbourne. He was knighted in 1911, before returning to Canada. He died at his summer home at St. Andrews,

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

References

Australian Dictionary of Biography, Online Edition
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tait, Thomas James 1864 births 1940 deaths Australian public servants Canadian Knights Bachelor Australian people in rail transport Canadian people in rail transport Rail transport in Victoria (Australia)