John McIntosh (reformer)

John McIntosh (March 4, 1796 – July 3, 1853) was a Scottish-Canadian businessman, ship's captain and political figure in Upper Canada.

He was born in Colarich, in the parish of Logierait, Atholl, Scotland, in 1796, and emigrated to Quebec in 1800 or 1801 with his family. They moved to York (Toronto) in 1803. He served in the local militia during the War of 1812 and was captured by the Americans at York. After the war, John and his brothers piloted a number of ships on the Great Lakes. John McIntosh was the caption of the Three Brothers. He was also the proprietor of the Sun Tavern until he sold it to Thomas Elliot who called it Elliot’s Sun Tavern.[1] He married in 1824 and received enough property from his father-in-law to allow him to retire and devote his time to politics.

In 1834, McIntosh was elected in the 4th riding of York as a Reformer; he was reelected in 1836. Although he supported William Lyon Mackenzie during the 1830s, he did not agree with all of Mackenzie's ideas and took no part in the Upper Canada Rebellion. McIntosh's second wife, Helen, was the sister of Mackenzie's wife. He opposed the union of Upper and Lower Canada and was defeated by Robert Baldwin in 1841 when he campaigned for reelection in 4th York. In 1849, he allowed William Lyon Mackenzie to stay at his home after Mackenzie's return from exile on March 22, 1849. That evening a mob assembled at the McIntosh property until several hundreds of Torontonians had gathered. The angry mob vandalized the McIntosh home, despite a police presence, in protest of Mackenzie's return.[2] He died in Toronto in 1853.