Identity area
Type of entity
Authorized form of name
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Description area
Dates of existence
History
The Whitelaw Machinery Company Limited, originally called the Oxford Foundry and Machine Shop, was founded in 1856 in Beachville, Oxford County, Ontario – just west of Woodstock – by Robert Whitelaw (1827-1920). Born in Roxburghshire, Scotland, Whitelaw came to Canada with his parents in 1841, settling first in Guelph Township, Wellington County before apprenticing at the Gartshore Foundry in Dundas, Ontario. After completing his apprenticeship, Whitelaw moved to Oxford County and started his own foundry to produce agricultural implements. By the time the company, then called the Oxford Machine and Foundry and later the Whitelaw Machine and Foundry, moved to Woodstock in 1874, they were producing boilers, steam engines, mill machinery, separators, turbines, sewing machines, sawing machines, cheese presses, and other cheese and butter making machinery and agricultural equipment.
After Whitelaw’s death in 1920, his son, Oscar Whitelaw (1867-1931), took over the business. It was later managed by Joseph Schaeffer, Secretary-Treasurer of the company, and sold to Sidney J. Harrison (1908-1968), a former employee, in 1944. Marie Eltom Harrison (1918-2010) served as President after her husband’s death until her son, Jim Harrison, took over the company in 1974. Around this time, the company name had been changed to Whitelaw Machinery Company Limited. Today, the Whitelaw Group includes Whitelaw Machinery Company Ltd., Whitelaw Trucking Inc., and Whitelaw Automotive & Industrial Supply Co. Ltd.