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George White was born Sept. 4, 1834
in Devonshire England, the fourth of ten children.
As a young man, he learned his blacksmith trade
in his father’s wagon-building shop. In
April 1857 he wed Susan Baker and they promptly
immigrated to Upper Canada, settling in London.
Here, within the year, he entered into a partnership
with Emanuel Edwin and Eli Pavey to manufacture
wagons, carriages and small farm machinery. This
firm dissolved in 1864. White, in the mean time,
had acquired a farm north of London on the Thames
River. There, by 1871, he set up a small water-powered
works for the production of “all kinds of
bolts for wagons, carriages, bridges or any other”.
Meeting with some success, White
formed the “Forest City Machine Bolt and
Nut Works” in partnership with Lucius George
Jolliffe and William Yates in 1875. By 1878, both
Jolliffe and Yates had left the business and White
continued with the “Forest City Machine
Works”, now specializing in boilers and
portable steam engines.
By the 1880’s, steam engines
were beginning to revolutionize the work of milling
and threshing on Ontario farms: bought by one
farmer or an enterprising engineer, a portable
machine fueled by wood or straw could power threshing
equipment on several farms. Both White and his
Forest City Works were well prepared to meet this
small but promising market. In response to provincial
legislation regulating the operation of steam
boilers and machinery, which manufactures opposed,
White astutely offered farmers training in his
shops, for a fee. Further, stimulated by the growth
of agriculture on the prairies, the boom in steam
engines from the mid 1880’s to 1912 set
the direction of White’s business. Portable
engines and the much larger self-propelled or
traction engines claimed an increasing proportion
of the output at his King Street plant.
During the late 1870’s and
early 80’s, George White made several pioneer
trips to the Canadian west and established his
machines in this fast, developing area. He was
among the first to introduce farm engines into
this area. This was before the days of the railroad.
From Winnipeg, the customary way to travel was
to buy a horse and buckboard, use it as long as
needed and then resell it. The first engines had
to be shipped via U.S. railroads and hauled the
long distance north by horses or oxen. After the
Canadian Pacific Railway crossed the prairies,
a large warehouse was built at Brandon, Manitoba
to serve Western Canada.
As his close-knit family of nine
sons (two of whom died young) and three daughters
grew, his sons were apprenticed to and then taken
into the business now called “George White
and Sons”. Incorporated in 1897, George
White and Sons Limited was only one of several
producers of stationary, portable and traction
engines in southern Ontario, where the Canadian
industry was concentrated. Though the firm was
never a contender in the production of a full
line of implements, White’s access in London
to no fewer than four railways was a definite
advantage in his specialization. In 1898 the firm
absorbed the foundry and implement works of McPherson
and Company, in Fingal, and with it, the well-known
“Challenger” line of portable threshing
machines.
Technically there was little to distinguish
White’s simple but sturdy steam engines
from those of many of his competitors, among them
Case, of Wisconsin, and in Ontario, Abell, Sawyer-Massey,
Bell, Waterloo, Waterous, Goodis and Macdonald.
Certainly the White firm was not innovative. Indeed,
it prided itself on “simplicity of construction”
and its ability to offer “only the most
thoroughly tested articles, those of established
reputation, and nothing whatever of an experimental
nature”. This reliability and small mechanical
differences -features such as the much-advertised
return-tube boilers and unique wrist pin lubricators-
were no doubt meaningful to many farmers. So too
were the firm’s excellent threshers, the
development of machinery for the west, the repairs
department, the sale of used and repossessed machines
and the network of agencies, railway connections
and plainly worded testimonials that filled the
company’s catalogue. This resulted in a
manufacturing company that held a modest share
of the Canadian market and experienced gradual
growth. In 1911 the Whites, now employing well
over 80 workers, opened a new larger plant in
London.
Under the directorship of his sons
and then as a public company, “George White
and Sons Limited” which was based in London,
flourished as a well-known and respected manufacturer
and /or distributor of agricultural equipment.
From a small beginning, the pioneer manufacturing
business grew as the country opened up and eventually
became one of Canada’s foremost farm implement
manufacturing firms, selling its products from
coast to coast and extensively into the United
States.
George White, the father of 12 children,
was characterized as “a quiet family man
with a large residence on Stanley Street”.
He served on London’s Board of Health and
Board of Trade, was a member of the London Gun
Club and St. James Westminster Anglican Church.
He died in 1913 at his summer residence.
It is interesting to note: White’s
summer residence, the farm known as “Springdale”,
described as being north of London on the Thames
River, is now the site of the “Y”
camp just north of the Thames River on Clarke
Road. From the 1870’s until 1911, White’s
companies worked out of a building located at
73 King Street across from today’s John
Labatt Centre and then moved to a new larger site
on Cabell Street just south of the railway tracks
from us today, here, at Western Fair grounds.
George White and his new bride immigrated, here,
to London, ten years before Canadian confederation
in search of opportunities. He raised a family.
He operated several businesses. Since 1857 the
name “George White” has become synonymous
with the manufacture and distribution of quality
farm implements both locally and continental-wide.
We gather here today, to recognize George White,
who found his opportunities and in doing so had
a profound influence on Canadian agriculture.
At this time we offer the name - George White
– inductee, Middlesex County Agricultural
Hall of Fame.
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