James Worts (c. 1792 – February 18, 1834) was one of the co-founders of the

Gooderham and Worts Gooderham and Worts, also known as Gooderham & Worts Limited, was a Canadian distiller of alcoholic beverages. It was once one of the largest distillers in Canada. The company was merged in 1926 with Hiram Walker & Sons Ltd., and the merged fir ...

partnership which, after his death, evolved from a simple mill into a prosperous

distilling Distillation, or classical distillation, is the process of separating the components or substances from a liquid mixture by using selective boiling and condensation, usually inside an apparatus known as a still. Dry distillation is the heating ...

company which eventual become the largest in the world. Worts was born in Bungay Parish, Suffolk, England to William Worts and Mary Murfield. Having first constructed a flour mill in his hometown in

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

, he eventually moved to

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada (french: link=no, province du Haut-Canada) was a Province, part of The Canadas, British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North Americ ...

with his eldest son,

James Gooderham Worts James Gooderham Worts (June 4, 1818 - June 20, 1882) was the eldest son of James Worts and Elizabeth Gooderham. James and his father emigrated from England to York, Upper Canada (now Toronto) in 1831, where his father constructed a flour mill ...

in 1831. Once there, he set up another windmill which was completed in 1832. In February 1834, several weeks after his wife Elizabeth Gooderham, sister of his partner and brother-in-law

William Gooderham Sr. William Gooderham Sr. (August 29, 1790 – August 20, 1881) was a British-born Canadian distiller, businessman, and banker. He was a founder of the Gooderham and Worts distillery. Life and career Born in Scole, Norfolk, England, the son o ...

, died during childbirth, James Worts committed suicide by drowning himself in a well on his own company's property.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Worts, James 1792 births 1834 deaths Businesspeople from Toronto Suicides in Ontario Suicides by drowning in Canada English emigrants to pre-Confederation Ontario People from Suffolk (before 1974)