Aemilius Jarvis
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Aemilius Jarvis (1860-1940), was a Canadian businessman and sailor, and mamber of the prominent Toronto Jarvis family.
He sailed alone around Lake Ontario in a tiny dinghy when he was 10 years old. He spent two years sailing the world in a square-rigger sailing vessel.
He apprenticed as a banker, and became president of Trader's Bank of Canada. He designed and built numerous innovative and successful racing sailboats. He founded the Royal Hamilton Yacht Club and the Royal Canadian Yacht Club. He was elected four times as Commodore of the Royal Canadian Yacht Club. He won over 100 international fresh-water sailing events while at R.C.Y.C.
He founded the Steel Company of Canada. He built the King Edward Hotel. He created the British Columbia Salmon Canning Industry. He formed AEmilius Jarvis & Co. and earned the friendship and respect of such men as Lord Minto, Governor General of Canada, J.P. Morgan, financier, Sir Thomas Lipton, Lord Beaverbrook, Sir Henry Pellatt, and Ned Hanlan. He acted as a spy for King George V, visiting Czar Nicholas of Russia, 1915. He was instrumental in forming the Canadian Navy during the Great War. He was awarded S.S.D. (Special Service Decoration) for his wartime efforts. He operated a famously successful stud farm, breeding hunter-jumper horses.
Finally, he was charged, tried, convicted, and jailed, on a charge of conspiracy to defraud the government of the Province of Ontario, after having saved that government millions of dollars in the retirement of war bonds. For the remainder of his life he stoutly defended his innocence. The Premier of Ontario, Ernest C. Drury, labelled him "Canada's Dreyfus" (See Ontario Bond Scandal.)
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