Timothy Eaton
Timothy Eaton | |
---|---|
Born | March 1834 Ballymena, County Antrim, Ireland |
Died | 31 January 1907 Toronto, Ontario, Canada | (aged 72)
Resting place | Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto |
Known for | Founder of Eaton's |
Spouse | Margaret Wilson Beattie |
Children | 8 |
Relatives | Eaton family |
Signature | |
Timothy Eaton (March 1834 – 31 January 1907) was an Irish businessman who founded the Eaton's department store, one of the most important retail businesses in Canada's history.[1]
Early life and family
He was born in Ballymena, County Antrim, Ireland (now Northern Ireland). His parents were Scottish Protestants, John Eaton and Margaret Craig. As a 20-year-old Irish apprentice shopkeeper, Timothy Eaton sailed from Ireland to settle with other family members in southern Ontario, Canada. On 28 May 1862, Eaton married Margaret Wilson Beattie. They had five sons and three daughters. Among the sons were John Craig Eaton and Edward Young Eaton. One of the daughters, Josephine Smyth Eaton, survived the sinking of RMS Lusitania off the Irish coast in 1915. His granddaughter, Iris Burnside, was lost in that sinking.
T. Eaton Co. Limited
In 1854, he worked for a short time in a haberdashery store in
In 1869, Eaton purchased an existing dry-goods and haberdashery business at 178 Yonge Street in Toronto. In promoting his new business, Eaton embraced two retail practices that were ground-breaking at the time:[citation needed] first, all goods had one price (no haggling) with no credit given, and second, all purchases came with a money-back guarantee (a practice expressed in what would become the long-standing store slogan of "Goods Satisfactory or Money Refunded").
Starting in 1884, Eaton introduced Canada to the wonders of the
Eaton spawned a colossal retail empire that his offspring would expand coast to coast, reaching its high point during World War II, when the T. Eaton Co. Limited employed more than 70,000 people. Although Eaton did not invent the department store, nor was he the first retailer in the world to implement a money-back guarantee, the chain he founded popularized both concepts and revolutionized retailing in Canada.
Death and legacy
Eaton died of pneumonia on 31 January 1907, and is buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Toronto. He was succeeded by his son, John Craig Eaton.
In 1919,
His grandson was flying ace Henry John Burden. In 1985, his great-great-granddaughter, Nancy Eaton, was murdered by a childhood friend, who was found not guilty by reason of insanity.
Timothy Eaton Memorial Church, in Toronto, was erected in 1914.
The town of
The ground of
A school in the Scarborough district of Toronto, Timothy Eaton Business and Technical Institute, was named after him. It opened in 1971 for classes and closed its doors permanently in 2009.
See also
References
- ^ Joy L. Santink. "Timothy Eaton". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Archived from the original on 20 June 2012. Retrieved 31 January 2011.
External links
Media related to Timothy Eaton at Wikimedia Commons