Harbormaster Colin W. Postlewaithe

No gentleman is better known in Toronto than Mr. Colin W. Postlewaithe, Harbormaster at this port. Mr. Postlewaithe was born of English parents on November 29, 1836, which makes him 61 years of age. He carries his years well, for no one could judge him to have passed 50. His education was thorough, as might be expected, when it is remembered that his father was the rector of an important parish in Nottinghamshire, England. Having given the final touch to his education at the Collegiate School in Leicester, Mr. Colin W. Postlewaithe came to this country in 1857, and was for some years private secretary in Toronto to Mr. Thomas Evans Blackwell, General Manager of the Grand Trunk Railway.

In 1862 Mr. Postlewaithe was appointed general purchasing agent on the Northern Railway of Canada, and remained in that position until 1881, when the death of Mr. F. W. Cumberland, the Managing Director, occasioned a new deal involving Mr. Postlewaithe's retirement. After spending the winter of 1881-82 in England, he returned to Toronto and opened a broker's office on King Street. In December 1884, he was appointed Deputy Harbormaster, and in October 1896, he was made harbormaster on the retirement of Mr. Morgan Baldwin.

In Masonic circles Mr. Postlewaithe is well known, having been Master of Tonic Lodge, First Principal of St. Paul's Chapter and Eminent Preceptor of Cyrene Preceptory. He has held office in each of the above mentioned grand bodies, belongs to the Mystic Shriners and is also representative of the Grand Chapter of the State of Iowa, near the Grand Chapter of Canada.

In 1864 Mr. Postlewaithe married Miss Adelaide Victoria, daughter of Mr. John Sheppard Guster, of Worcester, Mass., by whom he had three sons. Two sons are living, the youngest having been drowned at sea in 1891.

Harbormaster Postlewaithe fills his position satisfactorily, and since his advent to harbormastership some good work has been done in dredging the harbor, removing obstructions out of the approaches to Toronto Bay and in repairing and renovating the fixtures and appliances for guiding mariners into port. Especially does he take great care in sounding and in the placing of the channel and lake buoys.

Return to Home Port

The entire file of the Globe and Mail and its predecessors is now online via subscription at Micromedia ProQuest