Canada Company


The Canada Company was a large private chartered British land development company, incorporated by royal charter on August 19, 1826, under an act of British parliament, given royal assent on June 27, 1825, to aid in the colonization of a large part of Upper Canada. Originally formed to acquire and develop Upper Canada's undeveloped clergy reserves and crown reserves which, in 1827, the Company acquired for £341,000 from the Province of Upper Canada.
Founded by John Galt who became its first Superintendent, the company was successful in populating the area called the Huron Tract an achievement later called "the most important single attempt at settlement in Canadian history".
It is unrelated to the modern Canadian charity of the same name founded in 2006, which assists former Canadian military members and their spouses regain civilian employment after service in the Canadian Armed Forces.
AmountAreaLands
£195,850 Crown reserves
£145,150 Recently acquired by the government, from the Chippewa First Nation, in what would become the Huron Tract, located on the eastern shore of Lake Huron, in substitution for the originally contemplated of clergy reserve lands. One-third of the purchase price went to fund public works and improvements, while the remaining two-thirds was paid to the Crown.

Mission

The Canada Company assisted emigrants by providing good ships, low fares, implements and tools, and inexpensive land. Scottish novelist John Galt was the company's first Canadian superintendent. He first settled in York but selected Guelph as the company's headquarters, and his home. The area was previously part of the Halton Block, 42,000 acres of former Crown land. Galt would later be considered as the founder of Guelph.
The company surveyed and subdivided the massive Huron Tract, built roads, mills, and schools and advertised lots for sale to buyers in Europe. The company then assisted in the migration of new settlers, bringing them to the area by means of a boat, which the company also owned, on Lake Ontario.
A plaque erected in Huron county, Pioneers of the Huron Tract 1828-1928, commemorates the work of the men who developed the Huron Tract and the families who lived there, starting in 1828.
John Galt was dismissed and recalled to Great Britain in 1829, for mismanagement, particularly incompetent bookkeeping. General mismanagement and corruption within the company, and its close alliance with the Tory elites, known as the Family Compact, were important contributing factors to the Upper Canada Rebellion in 1837.
In 1833, his colleague William "Tiger" Dunlop took over as Superintendent of the Company and continued Galt's work for a short time before resigning.

Company Structure

Appointed Secretary of the Canada Company in 1824 John Galt helped to obtain a charter for the company on 19 Aug. 1826. On that date, the formal structure of the Canada Company was put into place by the company's Court of Directors. John Galt, as secretary, had the first order of business. Tabling an abstract of the charter, Galt declared the name to be "The Canada Company" with directors and secretary as served on the Provisional Committee and listed in the charter.
At the first meeting of the board, it was declared that four directors would rotate off the Company beginning in 1829.
PositionPersons concerned
Directors
  • Robert Biddulph
  • Robert Downie
  • Edward Ellice
  • Richard Blanshard
  • John Easthope
  • John Fullarton
  • Charles David Gordon
  • John Hodgson
  • Hart Logan
  • James McKillop
  • Martin Tucker Smith
  • William Williams
  • William Hibbert
  • John Hullet
  • Simon McGillivray
  • John Masterman
  • Henry Usborne
Chairman
  • Charles Bosanquet, William Williams
Secretary
  • John Galt
    • Auditors
  • Thomas Harling Benson
  • Thomas Wilson
  • Thomas Poynder
  • John Woolley
    • Solicitors
  • Freshfield and Kaye
    • Bankers
  • Masterman and Company
  • Cocks, Cocks, Ridge and Biddulph

    • Dissolution of the Canada Company

    When the Company sold its land to different purchasers, it reserved the mineral rights to itself. In 1919, the Company issued quit claims on such claims, vesting the mineral rights to the Crown. As a consequence, the Legislative Assembly of Ontario passed legislation in 1922 and 1923 authorizing the grant of such rights to landholders at a set price.
    By 1938, the Canada Company held just over of unsold land, while the company shares were valued at 10 shillings. It had become a land company in the process of liquidation. By 1950, only remained in its possession, distributed amongst Lambton County, the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville and Lanark County.
    In 1951, the remaining land was disposed, and land that was unsold became Pinery Provincial Park.
    The company voted to wind up its affairs on August 12, 1953, and was dissolved on December 18, 1953.