Ridout, Thomas Gibbs

  • DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: Robert J. Burns, “RIDOUT, THOMAS GIBBS,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 9, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/ridout_thomas_gibbs_9E.html
  • DCB profile:
    • Banker; b. 10 Oct. 1792 near Sorel, Lower Canada, third son of Surveyor General Thomas Ridout and Mary Campbell; m. first on 5 April 1825 Anna Maria Louisa Sullivan (d. 1832) and had two sons and one daughter, and secondly on 6 Sept. 1834 Matilda Ann Bramley and had six sons and five daughters; d. 29 July 1861 at Toronto, Canada West.
    • Thomas Gibbs Ridout moved with his parents to Newark (Niagara-on-the-Lake) in 1792 and to York (Toronto) in 1797. He was educated by John Strachan at Cornwall and, when 17 years old, was appointed deputy to his father, then registrar of deeds for York County. He also worked as a temporary clerk in several government departments.
    • T. G. Ridout was presented with an opportunity for civilian employment in 1821 when the Bank of Canada was incorporated by a group of government officers and York merchants. In January 1822 the bank’s shareholders unanimously elected him its first cashier, or general manager, at a salary of £200. Ridout, who had handled and disbursed large sums of money during the war, was an obvious choice for the post. He was accepted by the capital’s growing Tory clique because he was a member of one of York’s first families, and by the emerging political moderates because of his own liberal views and those of his family.
    • In 1850 the Bank of Upper Canada became the official government bank; soon both Ridout and the institution he represented were deeply enmeshed in the politics of railways and Ridout as well began to speculate in land. The depression of the late 1850s adversely affected the fortunes of the Bank of Upper Canada as well as those of its cashier. Like many of his contemporaries Thomas Gibbs Ridout was unable to cope with the new economic situation.
  • Grandson of United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=1181
  • Find a Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/63667121/thomas-gibbs-ridout