Sir Joseph Wesley Flavelle, 1st Baronet (February 15, 1858 – March 7, 1939) was a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 businessman.

Born in Peterborough

Peterborough, Ontario

Peterborough is a city on the Otonabee River in southern Ontario, Canada, 125 kilometres northeast of Toronto. The population of the City of Peterborough was 74,898 as of the 2006 census, while the census metropolitan area has a population of 121,428 as of a 2009 estimate. It presently ranks...

, Canada West, he married Clara Ellsworth in 1882. Flavelle made his fortune in the meatpacking business as president of William Davies Company

William Davies Company

William Davies Company was a pork processing and packing company in Toronto, Canada. At one time, it was the largest pork packer both in Canada and the British Empire, and it operated Canada's first major chain of food stores...

, which was the British Empire's largest pork packing firm. He subsequently became prominent in finance and commerce as chairman of the Bank of Commerce

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce

The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce is one of Canada's chartered banks, fifth largest by deposits. The bank is headquartered at Commerce Court in Toronto, Ontario. CIBC's Institution Number is 010, and its SWIFT code is CIBCCATT....

, National Trust and Simpson's

Simpson's

The Robert Simpson Company, or Simpsons , was a Canadian department store chain, founded by Robert Simpson. The chain was eventually bought by the Hudson's Bay Company.- History :...

 department stores. He was Chairman of the Imperial Munitions Board

Imperial Munitions Board

The Imperial Munitions Board was a national agency, set up in Canada under the chairmanship of Joseph Wesley Flavelle by the British War Cabinet to alleviate the Shell Crisis of 1915 during the First World War...

 during World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 and it was for reorganizing the industry that he was awarded his baronetcy in 1917. His was the last hereditary title to be granted to a Canadian resident due to the passage of the Nickle Resolution in 1919.

Upon his death in 1939, he left his Queen's Park mansion to the University of Toronto

University of Toronto

The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...

, where it now forms part of the Faculty of Law.

External links

• Sir Joseph Wesley Flavelle at The Canadian Encyclopedia
  The Canadian Encyclopedia
  The Canadian Encyclopedia is a source of information on Canada. It is available online, at no cost. The Canadian Encyclopedia is available in both English and French and includes some 14,000 articles in each language on a wide variety of subjects including history, popular culture, events, people,...
  
  
• Sir Joseph Flavelle fonds at Queen's University Archives