Sir James Woods | |
---|---|
Born | 1855 |
Died | April 25, 1941 | (aged 85–86)
Nationality | Canadian |
Spouse | Euphemia Douglas[1] (married June 8, 1880)[2] |
Children | two sons, two daughters living at the time of his death[1] |
Sir James Woods KBE (1855 – April 25, 1941) was a Canadian industrialist and philanthropist who was knighted in 1915 for wartime industrial work and named knight commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1917 for his work as a member of the British War Commission in New York.[1][3]
In 1928, he was vice-president of Imperial Bank of Canada.[4][5]
He was president of York Knitting Mills Ltd. and of Gordon Mackay and Company Ltd., a wholesale dry goods company. Archives of Gordon Mackay are held by Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario.
In 1930, he proposed a merger of knitting mill companies including Zimmerknit and Gordon Mackay.[6][7]
In 1912, he founded St. Christopher House, a settlement house in Toronto now known as West Community House.[8] Later, he was vice-chairman of the Health League of Canada.[1]
He helped establish the "Forty to Fifty Club", which was intended to help men in this age group find appropriate work.[1]
In 1938, he published a pamphlet titled Insurance of Employment.[9]
Woods married Euphemia Douglas on 8 June 1880. Their son, Captain John Robinson Woods, was killed in action on 24 October 1917 during the Third Battle of Ypres, also known as Passchendaele.[10] Another son, Captain William Blakeney Woods, also served.[11]