Sir James William Woods

Other Events:

• Interesting: life story, business, life story, honoured
• Residence: Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-256438
• Residence: 1861, Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Church of England
• Business: 1869, Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Woods and Taylor
• Occupation: 1871, Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Bookkeeper
• Residence: 1871, Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Church of England
• Historical Event: 1909; Sinking of the RMS Republic "Millionaire's Ship"
• Honoured: 1917; knight commander of the Order of the British Empire

Notes:

In 1887 an aging Mackay signed a partnership agreement with his bookkeeper, Charles Robb, and James W. Woods, his business manager/chief European buyer, forming "Gordon Mackay & Co." Woods had been born at Woodstock, Canada West on September 27, 1855 and when he was two his family moved to Galt, Ontario. He began working in his father's dry goods store, Woods and Taylor, in 1869 and had joined Gordon and Mackay as a buyer in 1874. By 1881 he had been already promoted to manager. Robb died in 1894 and on February 1, 1899 Gordon, Mackay and Co. Limited was formed as a joint stock company with James W. Woods as Business Manager and Donald Mackay as President. The agreement allowed Woods and other partners, including Woods' own father, to buy out Mackay from company profits. On Mackay's death in 1908, James W. Woods became President. By 1900 the company occupied an impressive four storey building at Bay and Front which covered 24,000 square feet. A great fire swept that district in April of 1904 destroying the company premises and that of several other nearby wholesalers on the south side of Front from Younge to York Streets. However, Gordon, Mackay and Co. Ltd. rebuilt and expanded to occupy an adjacent building, eventually totalling 153,000 sq. ft. and employing 1500 people.

Postal Stationery Notes - British North America Philatelic Society - Postal Stationery Study Group
Vol. 18 No. 6 June 2003 "Gordon, Mackay & Company, Toronto, Ontario" by Chris Ellis

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Sir James Woods Dies at Age of 85 - Toronto Industrialist Was Knighted for Work During Great War - Toronto, April 25

Sir James Woods, who carried out his prescription of "work, and more of it," for longevity until the last, died today at the age of 85. He was one of Canada's leading industrialists. As death which came during the night after he retired complaining of not feeling well, Sir James was president of the York Knitting Mills Ltd., and the Gordon Mackay and Company Ltd., wholesale dry-goods firm with which he was associated for 66 years. His reputation was international. Practical demonstration of business ability in furtherance of the cause of the British Empire brought him a knighthood in 1919 and for his work as a member of the British War Mission in New York in the Great War; he received the honor of Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire. He headed a commission in 1916 which went to England to report on ways of finding new markets in Britain, France and Egypt for Canada's exports. Sir James, native of Woodstock, Ont., and resident of Galt before moving to Toronto, started with the Gordon Mackay Company when he was only 19. Apart from the time spent on his war services, he spent the rest of his life with the company. Sir James was not only an industrialist. His philanthropies were many and he was active as vice-chairman of the Health League of Canada. It was his firm belief that good health and stamina were essential as a prime asset in a time of national emergency. He always was interested in the workers of Canada. Concerned over what he believed to be unfair discrimination against hiring middle aged men, he took an active part in the founding of the "Forty to Fifty Club," which had as its objective the placing in suitable jobs of men between those ages. He is survived by Lady Woods, the former Euphemia Douglas of Toronto, and two sons and two daughters. Funeral arrangements have not been completed.

Montreal Gazette - 26 Apr 1941

Historical Event:
James Woods was on the ship.

James — Lady Euphemia Douglas. Euphemia was born CA 1856; died Yes, date unknown. [Group Sheet]