Elmsley, John

  • DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: Henri Pilon, “ELMSLEY, JOHN (1801-63),” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 9, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, . https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/elmsley_john_1801_63_9E.html
  • DCB profile notes:
    • Naval officer, entrepreneur, office-holder, and philanthropist; b. 19 May 1801 at York (Toronto), Upper Canada, son of John Elmsley and Mary Hallowell; m. Charlotte Sherwood and they had seven sons and three daughters; d. 8 May 1863 at Toronto.
    • When John Elmsley was born his father was chief justice of Upper Canada and the next year took on the same post in Lower Canada. John Elmsley Sr died in 1805 and Mary Elmsley returned to England with young John, his brother, and two sisters. John entered the Royal Navy in 1815 as 1st class volunteer on Tonnant, and for the next nine years served on the Irish, North American (from 1818 to 1821), and Nore stations. In 1824 he was promoted lieutenant, but he had become disheartened with a profession which had “for its sole object the destruction of the Human Species” and retired on half pay.
    • Instead, it was decided that John would return to Canada and manage the extensive land holdings acquired by his father. He arrived at York in 1825 and, with the assurance that came from a background which opened the doors of “all the Elite of the Upper Canadian Metropolis,” became a gentleman farmer on his large property at York and a manager of an estate. In September 1830 he became a member of the Executive Council and in January 1831 of the Legislative Council.
    • On 12 Sept. 1831 Elmsley married Charlotte, daughter of Levius Peters Sherwood, a judge on the Upper Canadian Court of King’s Bench. 
    • Elmsley’s fortune was based on land and, as many others in Upper Canada did, he speculated heavily in uel location rights after an 1830 order-in-council facilitated their transfer. His activities came to the notice of Sir John Colborne, who in 1833 recommended to the Executive Council a measure to curb the traffic. To Elmsley the proposed measure was in its “retrospective operation a Breach of good faith.” He protested so strongly in council that Colborne demanded an apology. Elmsley soon resigned as executive councillor, explaining to the Toronto Patriot that he could not “fearlessly express my real sentiments and opinions if opposed to the government for the time being without incurring the risk of dismissal.” Reformers were jubilant at this breach within the Family Compact and there was some speculation that Elmsley would join Reform ranks. 
    • Elmsley continued to sit in the Legislative Council until the union of Upper and Lower Canada in 1841. By then he was devoting himself largely to the management of his lands, steamship enterprises, and increasingly, church and philanthropic activities.
  • Grandson of Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory –https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=3500
  • Find a GRAVE: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/72935873/john-elmsley