Section E, Lot 85
Toronto Necropolis

George Brown, born in 1818, emigrated to Canada from his native Scotland in 1843, after a short stay in New York City. He took up residence in Toronto, and in the following year established a newspaper called The Globe. While his political stance was that of a reformer, his political beliefs helped unite the province of Canada (consisting of the former provinces of Upper and Lower Canada) with Nova Scotia and New Brunswick to form the new Dominion of Canada. His participation earned him the title of “Father of Confederation.”
   On March 25, 1880, Brown was shot in his King Street East office during a struggle with a distraught, and drunk newspaper employee. Though he survived the shooting, the wound became infected and after lingering for seven weeks, Brown eventually slipped into a coma and died. His assassin was hanged at the Don Jail and lies, unidentified, in the abandoned prison graveyard.
   Brown’s newspaper was eventually merged with another to form today’s Globe and Mail newspaper.

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