JAMES COSGRAVE—At one time president of the
Cosgrave Brewery Company, but now president of its
once subsidiary but now independent company, the
Toronto Vinegar Works, James Cosgrave of Toronto,
Canada, has for seven years stood at the head of important
interests, and is now executive head of a branch of
the business with which he began his business career,
a lad of thirteen. He is a son of James and Catherine
Cosgrave, his father, of Irish birth, having settled in
Canada about 1830.
James Cosgrave, our subject, was born in Toronto,
April 13, 1866, and prepared for his career in the Separate
Schools and De la Salle Academy. In 1879 he entered
the employ of Cosgrave & Company, brewers, in the
capacity of junior clerk, and was engaged with that concern
for about seven years, rising during that period
to a position of greater responsibility. Cosgrave &
Company was founded in 1863 by Patrick Cosgrave, who
bought the West Toronto Brewery Company and admitted
his eldest son, John Cosgrave, to a partnership in
1871. In 1880 Lawrence J. Cosgrave, the founder’s youngest
son, was admitted, forming the firm Cosgrave
& Sons. Patrick Cosgrave died in 1881, and John Cosgrave
in 1894, Lawrence J. then succeeding to the presidency,
which was then incorporated as the Cosgrave
Brewery Company, and at that time James Cosgrave
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