Richardson, James Armstrong

  • DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: Jamie Benidickson, “RICHARDSON, JAMES ARMSTRONG,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 16, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/richardson_james_armstrong_16E.html
  • DCB profile notes:
    • Businessman; b. 21 Aug. 1885 in Kingston, Ont., son of George Algernon Richardson and Agnes McCausland; m. 21 May 1919 Annie Muriel Sprague in Belleville, Ont., and they had two sons and two daughters; d. 26 June 1939 in Winnipeg.
    • James Richardson – Jimmy in his youth – along with his younger brother, George Taylor, was an avid hockey player, and he was only moderately less keen on rugby. After schooling in Kingston at Hillcroft Academy, he entered Queen’s College in 1902 and studied economics, English, and philosophy. He and George graduated in 1906, two months after the death of their father, and they entered the family’s grain-merchandising business. Founded in Kingston in the mid 19th century by their paternal grandfather, James Richardson, to ship grain, especially barley, from eastern Ontario along the shore of Lake Ontario and to the United States, the firm was then under the leadership of their uncle, Henry Wartman Richardson. James Richardson and Sons included grain-elevator and warehouse operations, transportation and shipping, the marketing of grain, lumber, coal, livestock, and other commodities, and investments in phosphate and feldspar mines north of Kingston, as well as in a number of local factories.
    • In December 1909 James Richardson and Sons Limited was incorporated with a capital stock of $750,000. At the first meeting of its provisional directors, on 1 Jan. 1910, Richardson became vice-president. Two years later, to represent its commercial interests more effectively, he moved to Winnipeg, where, according to geographer Brian S. Osborne and historian Donald Wayne Swainson, the firm would become “a central institution” and “a crucial force in the evolution of the prairie economy.” In charge of its western offices, in 1913 Richardson also became president of the Pioneer Grain Company Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary that provided a distinct organizational structure for the business’s almost 30 country elevators.
    • In March 1919 James became president of James Richardson and Sons Limited after the death of Henry Wartman Richardson the previous October. In that office, and in many of the roles he would assume, he demonstrated an extraordinary mastery of details – grain prices, rail and shipping rates, brokerage charges, insurance levies, and weather conditions – and comprehended their significance. He presided successfully over the evolution of a business, supported by dozens of foreign correspondents, that delivered Canadian grain from terminal facilities in Vancouver, Port Arthur (Thunder Bay), Ont., Kingston, and Montreal to customers around the world. Richardson’s unparalleled understanding of this vital industry made him a valuable adviser to royal commissions and other government bodies because the management of grain marketing and Canadian interests in the competitive world trade developed significantly during the post-war period.
    • During his presidency of the Winnipeg Grain and Produce Exchange in 1923–24, he chaired a committee that made representations to the federal government arguing against its proposal to reconstitute the national wheat board as a permanent body. Despite these efforts, the board would eventually be set up in 1935.
    • By the early 1920s, in addition to the international grain trade that was his primary interest, Richardson was pursuing numerous other activities either as a senior operating executive or as a director of major enterprises. For example, he was vice-president of the Great Lakes Transportation Company, a firm he had set up with businessman James Playfair. He was named a director of the Canadian Bank of Commerce in 1920, the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1927, and the International Nickel Company in 1928. In December 1927 he became a member of the Canadian committee of the Hudson’s Bay Company.
    • Richardson’s affection for Queen’s, nourished by his own undergraduate experience, had deepened with time. To honour the memory of his younger brother, he had donated funds for the erection of the George Taylor Richardson Memorial Stadium, which opened in 1921. 
    • By the mid 1920s Richardson had become passionately engaged in commercial aviation. His leadership and dedication gave his business the proportions of a mission and would lead to his being regarded by aviation historian Shirley Render as the “Father of Canadian Aviation.” While Canadian government officials had continued to emphasize the military applications of aviation following World War I, Richardson recognized its commercial possibilities, including northern exploration and freight transport, mail delivery, and interurban and ultimately intercontinental passenger travel.
  • Great Grandson of Proven Loyalist in Loyalist Directory –https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=8835
  • Find a GRAVE: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/137922967/james_armstrong-richardson