John Scarlett (Toronto)
| John Scarlett | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
July 30, 1777 Newcastle-under-Lyme, England |
| Died | July 31, 1865 Toronto, Canada |
| Occupation | Merchant-Miller |
John Scarlett (1777–1865) was a merchant-miller who played a significant role in the development of the part of the historic York Township that later became the Junction neighbourhood of Toronto.
John Scarlett was born July 30, 1777 in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, England, the second of eleven children to Samuel Scarlett and Mary Bowker. His father was an upholder and agent to the Phoenix Fire Insurance Office and was presumably a man of considerable wealth. Beginning at age 15 John Scarlett apprenticed to his father for seven years as a mercer, draper and upholster.
In 1809, at the age of 32, John Scarlett arrived in York (now Toronto) from Antigua and quickly established himself in York society. He was described by his contemporaries as handsome, intelligent and well connected. In 1809 he started work as chief clerk in the inspector general's office in York, a position he held for 20 years. The same year he started acquiring property along the Humber River. In 1810 he married Mary Thompson, a United Empire Loyalist and close friend of Elizabeth Russell sister of Peter Russell who had been Administrator of Upper Canada.
Upon his arrival in York he was in possession of a male slave whom he had bought in Antigua for £144. While slavery did persist in Upper Canada into the 1830s, by 1809 the abolition movement was well underway. In 1793 the Upper Canada legislature had passed the Act Against Slavery which among other things outlawed the importation of slaves and, in 1807, Britain had enacted the Slave Trade Act which abolished the slave trade in the British Empire. Scarlett's first house in the area was a large structure of hewn logs near the river but it was destroyed in a fire. He then lived about six miles west of York at Simcoe Grange, a house that stood near what is now the intersection of Keele Street and Dundas Street.
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