John Molson

John Molson

John Molson (born December 28, 1763 in Moulton near Spalding , Lincolnshire , † January 11, 1836 in Boucherville , Lower Canada ) was an English - Canadian brewer , ship owner , banker and politician . He is the founder and namesake of Molson , Canada's oldest brewery. He was also a pioneer of steam navigation on the St. Lawrence River and helped found the Champlain and St. Lawrence Railroad , Canada's first railroad.

biography

Molson was orphaned at age ten and was taken into the care of his grandfather, Samuel Elsdale. Father John Molson sr. had inherited a piece of property and Elsdale used the proceeds to finance the education of the Molson siblings in boarding schools. In 1782 John Molson emigrated to Canada and settled in Montreal. He bought 160 hectares of land to set up a farm, but parted ways with this property again in 1786. Instead, he took over a small brewery and founded the Molson Brewing Company .

Molson invested the profits in the expansion of the brewery; he stayed several times in England to buy equipment. Since barley was hardly grown in Canada at that time , he distributed seeds to farmers in the area. In 1809, Molson participated financially in the construction of the first steamship in Canada, which operated between the cities of Montreal and Québec . In 1811 parliament rejected his request for a steamship monopoly on the St. Lawrence River . In 1812/13 he was a lieutenant and captain in the British-American War . After the end of the war, the demand for transport increased markedly and Molson commissioned the construction of further steamships, in Montreal and Québec he had shipyards built.

In 1816 Molson involved his sons John Jr., Thomas and William in the brewery, which enabled him to become more politically active. In March of the same year he was elected to the Lower Canada Parliament, where he represented the constituency of Montreal-East. He particularly campaigned for the construction of the Lachine Canal and the Montreal General Hospital . In 1820 he decided not to be re-elected. Seven years later he ran again, but was not elected. In 1832 he was finally appointed a member of the House of Lords.

The Molson Brewery in Montreal, still on the same site today as it was at the end of the 18th century

Meanwhile, Molson continued to diversify its business activities. He had a hotel built and in 1821 founded the colony's first distillery . In 1822, steamboat traffic was consolidated when Molson and a competitor founded the St Lawrence Steamboat Company . From 1824 to 1834 he belonged to the Board of Directors of Bank of Montreal (starting in 1826 as president), from 1826 to 1833 he was Grand Master of the Freemasons - Grand Lodge Montreal. In 1832, Molson founded the Champlain and St. Lawrence Railroad with Peter McGill and other Montreal businessmen . The railway line to be built to Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu should facilitate freight traffic in the direction of New York . It was opened in July 1836, seven months after his death.

The Molson brewery still exists today and is the largest in Canada. The John Molson School of Business , founded in 1974 and associated with Concordia University , is named after John Molson .

Web links

• John Molson . In: Dictionary of Canadian Biography . 24 volumes, 1966–2018. University of Toronto Press, Toronto ( English , French ).
• John Molson ( English, French ) In: The Canadian Encyclopedia .
• Biography on the Québec National Assembly website (French)