Thomas Baines (1799–1867) was born in Caynham, England, as the son of the Rev. James Johnson Baines, and came to Canada c.1821. Baines worked as a land and immigrant agent with Peter Robinson, most notably settling the Irish immigrants in the

Bathurst district The Bathurst District was a historic district in Upper Canada. It was created in 1822 from the Johnstown District. Containing Carleton County, it existed until 1849. The district town was Perth. History In 1824, Lanark County was created from par ...

and

Peterborough, Ontario Peterborough ( ) is a city on the Otonabee River in Ontario, Canada, about 125 kilometres (78 miles) northeast of Toronto. According to the 2021 Census, the population of the City of Peterborough was 83,651. The population of the Peterborough ...

. He was later commissioned as an officer in the 1st Carleton Regiment and was made Deputy Auditor General. Due to his experience of land assessment and transaction in

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 ...

, he was appointed as Secretary of the Clergy Corporation in 1833 and executed the sale of the controversial

Clergy Reserves Clergy reserves were tracts of land in Upper Canada and Lower Canada reserved for the support of "Protestant clergy" by the Constitutional Act of 1791. One-seventh of all surveyed Crown lands were set aside, totaling and respectively for each Prov ...

. By 1838, the Corporation was essentially dissolved and Thomas was appointed Crown land Agent for the Home District. He continued in this role until 1855 when he tendered his resignation to the Lieutenant Governor following allegations of default. He was shown to be in arrears (the greatest default in pre-Confederation Ontario) and so was forced to cede all his property to the government. From 1844–63 he owned a Brewery at Queen and Niagara Streets called the West Toronto Brewery while he also owned a mill at Innisville."Garrison Common History: The Breweries" in ''The Fife and Drum: The Newsletter of the Friends of Fort York and Garrison Common'' v.8 No.2, Sept. 2004; Sneath, A.W. ''Brewed in Canada: The Untold Story of Canada's 350-Year-Old Brewing Industry'' Dundurn Press Ltd., 2001; Westfall, W. ''The Founding Moment: Church Society, and the Construction of Trinity College'' London: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2002 The Brewery was sold to Patrick Cosgrave in 1863 and continued making beer for another eighty years. He was also involved in the incorporation of a number of companies in the Toronto area including the Western Assurance Company in 1851, as well as the Victoria Mining Company and the Toronto and Georgian Bay Canal Company in 1856. Thomas Baines died in 1867 at

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 ...

. He married twice, first to Georgina Catherine Lodge Wilcocks by who he had one surviving child; his second marriage was to Catherine, daughter of William Bancks, the founder of Bewdley, Ontario, by whom there were many other children, including Dr. Allen Mackenzie Baines the first Physician-in-Chief of the Hospital for Sick Children.

References

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Baines, Thomas 1799 births 1867 deaths People from Old Toronto