James Matthew Whyte ( 1788 – June 9, 1843) was a Scottish-born soldier, land owner and bank president in

Upper Canada The Province of Upper 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 America, formerly part of the Province of Queb ...

. The son of James Whyte, he served as a lieutenant and later captain in the

1st King's Dragoon Guards The 1st King's Dragoon Guards was an armoured cavalry and dragoon guard regiment in the British Army. The regiment was raised by Sir John Lanier in 1685 as the 2nd Queen's Regiment of Horse, named in honour of Queen Mary, consort of King James ...

, resigning in 1815. He later was lieutenant-colonel of the Surrey Regiment of Horse in

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

. Whyte took over a plantation in Jamaica in 1811. He served on the island's council and as a justice of

assize The assizes (), or courts of assize, were periodic courts held around England and Wales until 1972, when together with the quarter sessions they were abolished by the Courts Act 1971 and replaced by a single permanent Crown Court. The assizes ex ...

. In 1834, he sold his assets on the island and moved to Canada, settling in

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...

. He became involved with the establishment of the Gore Bank (later part of the

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC; ) is a Canadian Multinational corporation, multinational banking and financial services corporation headquartered at CIBC Square in the Financial District, Toronto, Financial District of Toronto, Ont ...

) and the London and Gore Rail Road. Whyte served as president of the Gore Bank from 1836 to 1839 and was a member of the board of directors for the railroad. He also held real estate in Harwich Township in Kent County and Picton. In 1836, Whyte build Barton Lodge, one of the city's finest homes, on the Hamilton mountain. He died in Hamilton. His home was inherited by his brother John Lionel Whyte.

References

Year of birth uncertain 1843 deaths 19th-century Canadian businesspeople Businesspeople from Hamilton, Ontario 1st King's Dragoon Guards officers {{Canada-business-bio-stub