Henry Cockshutt

Born in Brantford, Ontario on July 8, 1868, the son of Ignatius Cockshutt and Elizabeth Foster,{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/1018396023/?match=1&terms=%22Henry%20Cockshutt%22%20%2B%20chancellor |title=Col. Henry Cockshutt is Dead |work=The Standard |agency=The Canadian Press |location=St. Catharines, Ontario |p=8 |date=November 27, 1944 |access-date=February 4, 2025 |via=Newspapers.com |url-access=subscription}} he started working in the family business, Cockshutt Plow Company, in 1884. He worked his way up through the company, becoming the secretary-treasurer in 1888. In 1893, he became the company's managing director.{{sfn|Greene|1927|p=1478}} In 1896, he married Isabelle Rolls.{{cite web |url=https://www.lgontario.ca/en/lg/henry-cockshutt/ |title=Colonel the Honourable Henry Cockshutt |publisher=Lieutenant Governor of Ontario |access-date=February 4, 2025}} They had two daughters.{{sfn|Greene|1927|p=574}} In 1895, he began an international tour to drum up customers for the family business.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/732583941/?match=1&terms=%22Harry%20cockshutt%22%20%2B%20tour |title=Mr. Cockshutt's |work=The Expositor |location=Brantford, Ontario |p=3 |date=April 18, 1895 |access-date=February 4, 2025 |via=Newspapers.com |url-access=subscription}} In January 1898 he was elected president of the Brantford Board of Trade.{{sfn|Greene|1927|p=1478}}{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/930144109/?match=1&terms=%22Henry%20Cockshutt%22%20%2B%20mayor%20%2B%20Brampton |title=Told by the Wires |work=The Evening Star |location=Toronto |p=2 |date=January 26, 1898 |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=February 4, 2025 |url-access=subscription}}

In 1906 he was president of the Canadian Manufacturers' Association. He became president of the Cockshutt Plow Company in 1911.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/782237153/?match=1&terms=%22Henry%20Cockshutt%22 |title=Note and Comment |newspaper=The Saturday News |location=Calgary, Alberta |p=1 |date=September 29, 1906 |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=February 4, 2025 |url-access=subscription}} After taking over, the company moved from a family-owned business to one that was publicly traded.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/734802918/?match=1&terms=%22Harry%20cockshutt%22%20%2B%20shareholder |title=New Charter of Cockshutt Plow Company |work=The Brantford Daily Expositor |location=Brantford, Ontario |p=1 |date=May 19, 1911 |access-date=February 4, 2025 |via=Newspapers.com |url-access=subscription}} He also began expanding the company, acquiring the Avery Wagon Company, the Brantford Carriage Company and the Frost and Wood Company Limited, using them to provide a wide range of farm implements to farmers.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/734805894/?match=1&terms=%22cockshutt%20plow%22%20%2B%20%22brantford%20carriage%22 |title=Big Brantford Deal has been Completed |work=The Brantford Daily Expositor |location=Brantford, Ontario |p=1 |date=January 12, 1912 |access-date=February 4, 2025 |via=Newspapers.com |url-access=subscription}} Cockshutt also sat on the board of directors of large corporations including the Bank of Montreal, Canadian Pacific Railway,{{sfn|Directory of Directors|1927|p=314}} and the Bell Telephone Company, which was special for him as he had met the founder, Alexander Graham Bell, as a child.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/738798249/?match=1&terms=%22Henry%20Cockshutt%22%20%2B%20Brant%20%2B%20election |title=Regarding Henry |work=The Expositor |last=Philip |first=Tim |location=Brantford, Ontario |p=42 |date=March 3, 2007 |access-date=February 4, 2025 |via=Newspapers.com |url-access=subscription}}

In 1889, Cockshutt was elected to Brantford City Council as an alderman. In 1899, he was elected mayor of Brantford with a significant majority of votes for a term that lasted until 1900.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/1005588553/?match=1&terms=%22Harry%20cockshutt%22%20%2B%20tour |title=Brantford Mayoralty |work=The Hamilton Spectator |location=Hamilton, Ontario |p=6 |date=July 4, 1899 |access-date=February 4, 2025 |via=Newspapers.com |url-access=subscription}} In 1916, Cockshutt was given the rank of honorary colonel of the 25th Brant Dragoons. He fought during World War I with the rank of lieutenant-colonel, commanding the 215th Infantry Battalion as part of the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF). The unit sailed for England in 1917 and was absorbed into the 2nd Canadian Reserve Battalion.{{cite web |url=https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/first-world-war/Documents/infantry%20battalions.pdf |title=Infantry – 205th Battalion |publisher=Library and Archives Canada |access-date=February 4, 2025}} He retired from the Canadian militia in 1926.

In the 1917 federal election he ran unsuccessfully initially as the Conservative–Unionist candidate in the riding of Brant.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/930753863/?match=1&terms=%22Henry%20Cockshutt%22%20%2B%20Brant%20%2B%20election |title=Hendrie Willing to Withdraw |work=Toronto Star |location=Toronto, Ontario |p=2 |date=November 29, 1917 |access-date=February 4, 2025 |via=Newspapers.com |url-access=subscription}} He lost to the Liberal–Unionist candidate, John Harold, though there were voting discrepancies as Cockshutt's name was left off ballots provided to soldiers overseas with the CEF.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/732658488/?match=1&terms=%22Henry%20Cockshutt%22%20%2B%20Brant%20%2B%20election |title=Candidates' Names Were Left Off List |work=The Brantford Daily Expositor |location=Brantford, Ontario |p=12 |date=January 4, 1918 |access-date=February 4, 2025 |via=Newspapers.com |url-access=subscription}} Cockshutt demanded a recount,{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/43918758/?match=1&terms=%22John%20Harold%22%20%2B%20Brant%20%2B%20election |title=Today is Last Day to Apply for Recount |work=The Ottawa Journal |location=Ottawa, Ontario |p=1 |date=March 8, 1918 |access-date=February 4, 2025 |via=Newspapers.com |url-access=subscription}} but after both General Andrew McNaughton, the special election authority designated by the government to oversee the soldiers' vote,{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/930780757/?match=1&terms=%22John%20Harold%22%20%2B%20Brant%20%2B%20election |title=MacNaughton says no authority, but Congdon may appeal |work=Toronto Star |location=Toronto, Ontario |p=12 |date=March 30, 1918 |access-date=February 4, 2025 |via=Newspapers.com |url-access=subscription}} and a legal decision{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/990469419/?match=1&terms=%22John%20Harold%22%20%2B%20Brant%20%2B%20election |title=John Harold's Election in Brant Confirmed |work=Waterloo Region-Record |location=Waterloo, Ontario |p=7 |date=March 26, 1918 |access-date=February 4, 2025 |via=Newspapers.com |url-access=subscription}} stated they had no power to overturn the results, he withdrew his demand.

In 1921, he was appointed Lieutenant Governor of Ontario and served as King George V's representative until 1927. In his time as lieutenant governor, Cockshutt opened Government House to the public and allowed charities to use the facilities for meetings. He also used his business connections to support the development of Northern Ontario. He was given an honorary degree of law from the University of Toronto in 1923 and by the University of Western Ontario in 1924. From 1929 to 1944, he served as chancellor of the University of Western Ontario.{{cite web |url=https://www.uwo.ca/univsec/about/chancellor/past.html |title=Past Chancellors |publisher=University of Western Ontario |access-date=February 4, 2025}} In 1934, he retired as president of the Cockshutt Plow Company and became chairman of the board of directors, handing over the presidency to his nephew, C. Gordon Cockshutt.

He died on November 26, 1944, and is buried in the Farringdon Burial Ground, Brant County. His mansion, Dufferin House, in Brantford, became the campus for St. John's College in 1951.{{cite web |url=http://www.sjconline.ca/page/about-st-johns-college |title=About St. John's College |publisher=St. John's College |access-date=February 4, 2025}}

Cockshutt Park, named for the for him, is located in West Brant, which has batting cages, a playground, and four baseball diamonds, including Arnold Anderson Stadium, home of the Brantford Red Sox.{{cite web |url=https://www.brantfordexpositor.ca/news/local-news/families-celebrate-opening-of-new-playground |title=Families celebrate opening of new playground |work=The Brantford Expositor |last=Ball |first=Vincent |date=June 27, 2022 |access-date=February 4, 2025}}

{{1917 Canadian federal election/Brant}}

{{reflist}}

• {{cite book |editor-last=Greene |editor-first=B. M. |date=1927 |title=Who's Who in Canada including the Possessions in the Western Hemisphere: An Illustrated Biographical Record of Men and Women of the Time |edition=Diamond Jubilee of Confederation |publisher=International Press Limited |location=Toronto |oclc=}}
• {{cite book |title=The Directory of Directors |date=1927 |publisher=Thomas Skinner & Co. |location=London |oclc= |ref={{sfnref|Directory of Directors|1927}}}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20110612232926/http://www.lt.gov.on.ca/en/History/Bio_Cockshutt.asp?nav=7&sub=2 The Lieutenant Governor of Ontario biography]

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{{s-bef|before=Lionel Herbert Clarke}}

{{s-ttl|title=Lieutenant Governor of Ontario|years=1921–1927}}

{{s-aft|after=William Donald Ross}}

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{{Succession box

| before=W. J. Roche

| title=Chancellor of the University of Western Ontario

| years=1929–1944

| after=Howard Ferguson

}}

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Category:1868 births

Category:1944 deaths

Category:Lieutenant governors of Ontario

Category:Mayors of Brantford

Category:Chancellors of the University of Western Ontario

Category:Canadian military personnel of World War I

Category:20th-century mayors of places in Ontario

Category:Candidates in the 1917 Canadian federal election

Category:Independent candidates for the Canadian House of Commons

Category:Ontario candidates for Member of Parliament