John William Gamble, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death
TweetJohn William Gamble
Canadian politician
Date of Birth: 
Place of Birth: Kingston, Ontario, Canada
About John William Gamble
- John William Gamble (July 5, 1799 – December 12, 1873) was a businessman and political figure in Upper Canada and Canada West.He was born in York, Upper Canada (now Toronto) in 1799 and grew up in Kingston.
- He was the son of John Gamble (1755–1811), a Loyalist surgeon with the Queen's Rangers.
- His mother, Isabella Elizabeth Clarke (25 October 1757 – 9 March 1859), was the daughter of Dr.
- Joseph Clarke, also a Loyalist – who was thus persecuted, and whose brother, Dr.
- Nehemiah Clarke (c.?1739 – 1825), was tortured by a rebel mob in February 1774.Gamble operated a store with his brother William.
- Gamble settled in Etobicoke Township, but later moved to Pine Grove in Vaughan Township, where he set up a grist mill, a distillery and cloth factory.
- He served 14 terms as reeve for the township.
- He also served as justice of the peace in the Home District and served in the local militia.
- In 1838, he was elected in 1st York to the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada.
- He opposed the Union of the two Canadas in 1841, but later represented South York in the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada from 1851 to 1857.
- Originally supporting free trade, he later opposed reciprocity in trade with the United States. Gamble acquired the mill, located on the Humber River, just north of Bloor Street, in 1828.
- Around it he built a lumber yard and nail factory.
- The original wooden structure burned down in 1848, and Gamble replaced it with an impressive five story stone mill.
- At the time the mill was known as Gamble's Mill.
- The impressive ruins, visible from the Toronto Transit Commission's Old Mill subway station, are the last trace of a series of mills on the Humber, is now known simply as the Old Mill. He died in Pine Grove in 1873.
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