George Leslie (Upper Canada)

George Leslie Sr. was a gardener in Scotland and Upper Canada, a plant merchant, magistrate, and the namesake of Leslieville, now a neighbourhood of Toronto.

George Leslie Sr.
Born	1804 (1804) Sutherlandshire, Scotland
Died	1893 (aged 88–89)
Nationality	Canadian
Occupation	horticulturist

A Scottish immigrant to Upper Canada, he was born in 1804. He arrived, with his parents, John and Esther, and his siblings, settling in Streetsville, in what is now Mississauga.[1] Sources give the arrival date as either 1824 or 1825.[2][3]

George had worked as a gardener, in Scotland, and continued working as a gardener in Upper Canada, for the Province's richer residents, including Bishop John Strachan, Chief Justice William Campbell.[1] He would later found a plant nursery east of the boundaries of Toronto, on land originally granted to John Small.

In 1834 Leslie was one of the founders of the Toronto Horticultural Society.[1]

He married in 1836, and opened a store in Toronto, the first to be lit by gas, a novelty that attracted sightseers.[1]

His Toronto store had a small nursery, but the nursery that Leslie started in 1845, near the street now named after him, grew to 150 acres (61 hectares) and was considered the largest in Canada at the time.[1]

Leslieville, the community that grew up around his nursery, acquired a post office, and a railway station. In 1853 Leslie was appointed a magistrate.[1]

Leslie passed his nursery to his children, who broke it up into lots.[1]