thumb|[[Flora Eaton|Lady Eaton and Aemilius Jarvis at Eaton Hall in King City, Ontario, during the mid-1930s.]]

thumb|Admiral Jellicoe, head of the Navy, Aemilius Jarvis, and Mayor Tommy Church in Toronto – Jellicoe is on the left, Jarvis in the centre, and Church to the right of Jarvis (1918/19)

thumb|Sir Thomas Lipton (4) at the Royal Canadian Yacht Club, Toronto Island 1903 - Commodore Aemilius Jarvis (5), Vice-Commodore Stephen S. Haas (3), and Rear-Commodore George H. Gooderham (6).

thumb|The Canada's Cup is a perpetual trophy awarded to the winner of a sailing match race between a yacht representing a Canadian yacht club and a yacht representing an American yacht club. Aemilius Jarvis sailed for the cup five times, winning the inaugural series in 1896, and repeating in 1901.

thumb|In 1899 the Toronto Hotel Company was founded by Amelia's Jarvis – with the support of George Cox (of Canada Life and the Bank of Commerce) and George Gooderham (of Gooderham & Worts Distillery). Jarvis and his Toronto Hotel Co. built the King Eddy, and it opened in 1903.

Edward Aemilius Jarvis (April 25, 1860 – December 19, 1940) was a Canadian financier, equestrian, and sailor. Jarvis was instrumental in forming the Royal Canadian Navy during World War I, recruiting both ships and men. Jarvis was notable in Toronto business circles and helped build the King Edward Hotel and Arena Gardens. He was convicted of conspiracy in the Ontario Bond Scandal of 1922, and never cleared of the conviction although his pardon was petitioned several times. He was fined and served several months in jail. He remained a prominent figure in Toronto sailing and business circles until his death in 1940.

Life and career

alt=Text of planned meeting of Jarvis to recruit for the navy|thumb|Commodore Aemilius Jarvis at the Griffin Theatre, Thorold; recruiting for the Royal Navy.

alt=Crowd of people in the street in front of a brick building|thumb |Aemilius Jarvis recruited ships (including anti-submarine vessels) and over 2000 men for Canada's World War I effort. In the first year of the war, he established a naval recruitment centre in his Toronto office.

Jarvis was born on April 25, 1860, in rural York County north of Toronto, to William Dummer Powell Jarvis, a lawyer, and Diana Irving Jarvis, Jarvis' grandfather was Samuel Peters Jarvis and his great-grandfather was William Jarvis. In 1860, the family moved to Hamilton, Ontario to be closer to his mother's family, the Irvings. Jarvis attended Upper Canada College, leaving at age 16 in 1876. In 1884, Jarvis married his first cousin Augustus Irving, who died after World War I. He later married Marion Gertrude Read in 1929. delivering a message to George's cousin Tzar Nicholas via an intermediary to encourage Russia to stay in the war, in order to maintain two fronts on Germany. (The intermediary was shortly thereafter assassinated on a train platform immediately following passing -and ignoring- Jarvis in a train-car corridor, with several "ugly" men following close behind her.) Aemilius was recognized by the Navy League of Canada's award of its unofficial “Special Service Decoration” for his wartime contributions. Jarvis' grandson Robert Aemilius Jarvis published a biography of his grandfather, "The Last Viking".

Legendary yachtsman

Jarvis sailed alone around Lake Ontario, from Hamilton to Niagara-on-the-Lake to Whitby and back, in a tiny dinghy aptly called Tar Pot when he was just twelve years old. Later in life, he spent two years sailing the world in a square-rigger sailing vessel. He designed and built racing sailboats, founded the Royal Hamilton Yacht Club (RHYC), and was a longtime member of the Royal Canadian Yacht Club (RCYC), of which he was elected commodore seven times. He won the inaugural Canada's Cup yachting race in 1896 sailing the Canada, a 57-foot cutter. Additionally, he won over 100 international freshwater sailing events while at Royal Canadian Yacht Club (& more than 300 overall

Ontario bond scandal

Jarvis and Co. purchased million in war bonds, at a time "when Canada's banks couldn't possibly take them", saving the government million. He'd refused, against all advice, to testify in his own defence, and one theory as to why is that he was shielding/taking a fall for his son, also charged in the affair, after having lost another son previously in World War I. Jarvis paid a total of and left jail in April 1925. The case was brought to appeals court in 1927, but dismissed.

alt=The Canada's Cup, originally unnamed, was named after it's inaugural victor, the yacht Canada.|thumb|The yacht Canada (left), skippered by 'Skippadore' Aemilius Jarvis, crosses tacks with Vencedor on Lake Erie, near Toledo, Ohio, in the inaugural 1896 Canada's Cup match-racing series from which Canada emerged victor.

thumb|The photograph includes a view of the Aurora, ON farmhouse called Hazelburn that was owned by Aemilius Jarvis. Jarvis is on the third horse from the left.

alt=Royal Hamilton Yacht Club (ca 1910)|thumb|Aemilius Jarvis organized the establishment of the Hamilton Yacht Club in 1888.

References

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Bibliography

  • Aemilius Jarvis: 5000 Miles in a 27-Tonner