Edward Lee

his nephew Robert H. Gilbert 19 to emigrate, along with his mother Mary
and sister Violet, to America in May 1908. Robert would end up living
in Buffalo, New York, working on the streetcars. In time he would go
on to organise the Niagara Frontier Bus and Streetcar Employees’ Union,
eventually becoming its president. Did his uncle Edward give him advice
about the opportunities he saw for a young man in the New World? We
will never know, but it is most likely that he did, given Edward’s love of
family and the idea of bettering one’s self. It is also quite a coincidence
that young Robert should start his new life in Buffalo, close to Niagara
Falls.
After breakfast on Wednesday June 8 th , Edward and Robert Reid
Thomson headed for Toronto. Not having been entirely at ease with
American brashness, Edward wrote, ‘the Americans certainly have a way
of putting themselves en evidence that no ‘old worlder’ can match’. The
two men were much more comfortable in Canada. ‘We are soon under the
British flag again. The country seems different, their manners different
and to our way of thinking, more in accord with old world sentiment’.
Diplomacy was obviously another of Edward’s traits. His impression of
Toronto was positive. ‘The ‘strenuousness’ of life in other cities we have
seen, is nowhere apparent, in fact home life here is well exemplified’.
A highlight of their time in Toronto was a visit to the T. Eaton Co.,
founded in 1869 by Timothy Eaton, an immigrant from Clogher, Co
Antrim. The T. Eaton Co. became one of Canada’s most successful retail
stores, with branches across the country. Of major interest to Edward Lee
was the fact that Eaton had pioneered the ‘cash only’ system of retailing.
This, of course, was also the way Lee's transacted business, albeit on a
much smaller scale. But there were other parallels with the two men. Both
were quiet, private individuals with strong moral characters, a strong
work ethic and a wish to succeed. Both men were religious and pursued
a fair-minded and generous approach to their employees. Edward Lee
was genuinely excited by what he saw. ‘We marvelled at the enormous
streams of people passing in and out - not all necessarily customers’.
It would be interesting to know if Edward Lee had been influenced by
Timothy Eaton’s pioneering retail innovations years earlier while setting
up his own business.
19 Robert H. Gilbert, born in Bandon, son of William John Gilbert and Edward’s sister,
Mary (Molly).
Model Employer and Man of Moral Courage
33