Thomas Dick
Born1809-1810
Scotland
Died1874 (aged 64–65)
Toronto
NationalityBritish/Canadian
Occupation(s)Ship's captain, hotelier
Known forowner of the Queen's Hotel

Thomas Dick was a United Kingdom/Canada citizen, who worked as a sailor, a ship's captain, who later bought and operated Toronto's most luxurious hotel.[1][2] Dick was born in 1809 or 1810, and went to sea at 14 years old, and had earned his master's certificate, and become a ship's captain, by the time he was 23.[3] He and his wife immigrated to Canada in 1833 or 1834.

They first settled in Niagara-on-the-Lake, then a shipbuilding port.[2] Dick seems to have played a role in the shipbuilding there. He commanded the schooner Fanny in 1835. He commanded HMS Experiment during the Battle of the Windmill in 1838.

Dick started being part owner of the ships he commanded, later owning a small fleet of ships.[3]

However, by the 1850, railroads were starting to supplant water travel – at least along the shores of Lake Ontario.[3] Dick moved his fleet to the Upper Lakes, and branched out into finance, real estate, and, eventually, running the Queen's Hotel, which he turned into one of Toronto's most luxurious hotels.

References

  1. ↑ "Dick, Thomas". Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Archived from the original on 2018-11-13. Retrieved 2018-11-13.
  2. 1 2 "Thomas Dick". Mount Pleasant Group. Archived from the original on 2018-11-13. Retrieved 2018-11-13. Thomas Dick went to sea as a youth and earned his master's certificate. He immigrated to Upper Canada about 1833 and went to work at the newly established Niagara Harbour and Dock Company in Niagara-on-the-Lake.
  3. 1 2 3 Angus Skene (2015-03-16). "Business history: The steamer captain connected to the Royal York hotel". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on 2018-11-13. Retrieved 2018-11-13. For the first few years, Dick seemed to operate out of Niagara-on-the-Lake, for long before that economy subsisted on fudge and light theatre it was a down-and-dirty shipbuilding centre sometimes employing hundreds of men. Dick soon fell in with a cabal of Scots who controlled that venture and much of the Lake Ontario steamship business as well.
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