William Cawthra (29 October 1801 – 26 October 1880) was a philanthropist, business and civic leader and the eldest son of Joseph Cawthra. William, like his father, was associated with reformists and was considered anti-establishment, notwithstanding his wealth. William was elected to

Toronto City Council Toronto City Council is the governing body of the municipal government of Toronto, Ontario. Meeting at Toronto City Hall, it comprises 25 city councillors and the mayor of Toronto. The current term began on November 15, 2022. Structure The cur ...

as the Alderman for St. Lawrence Ward in 1836, a position his father held for one year until he was unseated in 1835 by conservative opposition. William married his widow Sarah Ellen Crowther Cawthra in 1849. His brothers

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

and Jonathan Cawthra served in the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

and

Queenston Queenston is a compact rural community and unincorporated place north of Niagara Falls in the Town of Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada. It is bordered by Highway 405 to the south and the Niagara River to the east; its location at the eponymo ...

under

Sir Isaac Brock Major-General Sir Isaac Brock KB (6 October 1769 – 13 October 1812) was a British Army officer and colonial administrator from Guernsey. Brock was assigned to Lower Canada in 1802. Despite facing desertions and near-mutinies, he co ...

. John Cawthra later served as an MHA and as the first Member of Parliament for Simcoe County.

Business success

William worked alongside his father Joseph in their family's business - Toronto's first apothecary. When Joseph died in 1842, he left most of his money to William who shut the business down and concentrated on investments and charity work. William eventually became the wealthiest man in Toronto, serving as a Director of the

Bank of Toronto The Bank of Toronto was a Canadian bank that was founded in 1855 by a group of grain dealers and flour millers. On February 1, 1955, it merged with The Dominion Bank to form the Toronto-Dominion Bank, which is now known as the present-day TD Bank ...

and owned a number of companies. He and his wife lived in a townhouse at the corner of

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

and

Bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a Gulf (geography), gulf, sea, sound (geography), sound, or bight (geogra ...

Streets (the current site of the

Bank of Nova Scotia The Bank of Nova Scotia (french: link=no, Banque de Nouvelle-Écosse), operating as Scotiabank (french: link=no, Banque Scotia), is a Canadian multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. One of Canada ...

's main headquarters). This house has been recognized as the most beautiful ever built in

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 ...

, but was torn down in 1946 to make way for the

Scotia Plaza Scotia Plaza is a commercial skyscraper in the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is in the financial district of the downtown core bordered by Yonge Street on the east, King Street West on the south, Bay Street on the west, and Adelaide Stree ...

. (

Anthony Patrick Cawthra Adamson Anthony Patrick Cawthra Adamson, (October 7, 1906 – May 3, 2002) was a Canadian architect, author, teacher, and municipal politician. He was a descendant of Joseph Cawthra through his mother. Born in Toronto, Ontario to Colonel Agar A ...

, a descendant of Joseph Cawthra, tried to rescue the mansion from demolition, but failed. He managed to save some architectural elements from the house and installed them in his

Rosedale, Toronto Rosedale is a neighbourhood in central Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was formerly the estate of William Botsford Jarvis, and so named by his wife, granddaughter of William Dummer Powell, for the wild roses that grew there in abundance. It is loca ...

garden).

Philanthropy and city-building

William Cawthra is credited, alongside James Gooderham Worts and William Gooderham, Sr., with establishing Canada's first infectious disease centre at the

Toronto General Hospital The Toronto General Hospital (TGH) is a major teaching hospital in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and the flagship campus of University Health Network (UHN). It is located in the Discovery District of Downtown Toronto along University Avenue's Hospital ...

. William was a founding and active member of the Toronto House of Industry, established in 1837 with a similar model to Dickensian workhouses, helping those in the city who were desperate for food, distributing coal to assist the needy to survive the harsh Toronto winters, providing temporary and permanent accommodations and assisting abandoned children or those who were orphans. William was also a patron of the Fenian Raids Volunteer Fund, St. James Cathedral and numerous other charities. Toronto's first city hall (now the

St. Lawrence Market St. Lawrence Market is a major public market in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located along Front Street East and Jarvis Street in the St. Lawrence neighbourhood of downtown Toronto. The public market is made up of two sites adjacent to one a ...

) was mortgaged to Cawthra, and when the Jarvis Family lacked the funds to finish Jarvis street, they turned to him for assistance. He gave them the money in return for a northwest portion of their property in what is now the North Jarvis and Church and Wellesley neighbourhoods. Toronto author and historian

Henry Scadding Henry Scadding (July 29, 1813 – May 6, 1901) was a Canadian writer and Anglican clergyman. Life and career Scadding was born at Dunkeswell in Devon, England, and he immigrated to York, Upper Canada (now Toronto, Ontario) in 1821 with his p ...

said in an address at a meeting of the York Pioneers' Association (now the York Pioneer and Historical Society) that William Cawthra was "one of the necessary constituents of the ideal conception of Toronto".

Legacy

William Cawthra died without heirs, leaving an estate estimated between $2,000,000 and $3,000,000 which was divided between his wife and his nieces and nephews. This fortune allowed the construction of many mansions on

Jarvis Street Jarvis Street is a north-south thoroughfare in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada, passing through some of the oldest developed areas in the city. Its alignment extends from Queens Quay East in the south to Bloor Street in the north. The segment s ...

and elsewhere which factor significantly in the architectural heritage of the North Jarvis Street district and established his family among the City's social elite. His beautiful house at King and Bay long remained as his monument, but he is a political and business figure of whom there is little record or history with the exception of a small square and a city park. Cawthra's property at Church and Wellesley Streets was home to the city's lacrosse club and the first baseball club at the Old Lacrosse Fields from 1872 to 1890. The property was redeveloped for homes and a church on a public road known as Cawthra Square. This site was further redeveloped in 1971 with the construction of Plaza 100 on the former site of the Church.

Former Cawthra Square Park

A park formerly known as Cawthra Square Park, in the city's

Church and Wellesley Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * C ...

neighbourhood, adjoining Cawthra's former Jarvis Street properties, was named for him. The street to the north of the park, now named Monteith Street, was also once called Cawthra Avenue. In May 2014, Toronto City Councillor

Kristyn Wong-Tam Kristyn Wong-Tam (born ) is a Canadian politician who has represented Toronto Centre in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario since 2022 as a member of the Ontario New Democratic Party (NDP). They served on Toronto City Council from 2010 to 2022 ...

proposed the renaming of Cawthra Square Park to "Barbara Hall Park" after former City of Toronto Mayor Barbara Hall. The proposal was approved by Toronto and East York Community Council.

References

External links

Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cawthra, William William Cawthra 1801 births 1880 deaths Pre-Confederation Ontario people Pre-Confederation Canadian businesspeople Cawthra, Will Cawthra, Will Immigrants to Upper Canada