Brydges, Charles John, 1827-1889

• Brydges, C. J. (Charles John), 1827-1889

Charles John Brydges was born on February 23, 1827, in London, England.

Brydges was a railway official, civil servant, and HBC land commissioner. In 1843, he was appointed a junior clerk in the London and South-Western Railway Company. He initiated a “friendly society” to benefit the railway’s workmen, and, knowing the need for financial prudence, he pressed on the company and its employees the urgency of contributory superannuation provisions. In 1852, he published a pamphlet “Railway superannuation: an examination of the scheme of the General Railway Association for providing superannuation allowances to worn out and disabled railway employés”. In 1852, he came to Canada to become the managing director of the Great Western Railroad which was incorporated to build a line from Burlington Bay to Lake Huron. From 1862 to 1874 he was general manager of the competing Grand Trunk Railway. Afterwards, he became one of the Commissioners of the Intercolonial Railway which connected Montreal, Quebec, with Halifax, Nova Scotia. He built up the employees’ morale and loyalty by supporting reading-rooms, education for workers, and improved benefits. From 1879 until his death, he was a Land Commissioner for the Hudson's Bay Company in Winnipeg. The town of Mount Brydges, Ontario, is named in his honour.

In 1849, he married Letitia Grace Henderson (1823–1912). He died on February 16, 1889, in Winnipeg, Manitoba.