F.B. Fetherstonhaugh

Frederick Barnard Fetherstonhaugh (June 2, 1863 – July 6, 1945) was a Canadian patent lawyer and agent who founded the patent agency Fetherstonhaugh & Co. He was widely recognized for his expertise in patent law. Fetherstonhaugh was also the owner of one of the first electric cars in Canada.

Biography

Family and education Frederick Bernard Fetherstonhaugh was born in Paisley, Ontario on June 2, 1863, to Francis Fetherstonhaugh and Frances Swift. He was a descendant of the Irish Fetherstonhaughs of Carrick House in County Westmeath. His father immigrated to Canada around 1859 and resided in various towns in Ontario including Orillia, Guelph, and Paisley, until he settled in Toronto with his family.

Fetherstonhaugh attended the Ryerson School in his youth, where he excelled academically, eventually winning a scholarship to the Toronto Collegiate Institute for two years. He then attended the University of Toronto, taking courses at the School of Practical Science in Mechanical Engineering. Before finishing his diploma, however, he decided to pursue the study of law. His eldest son, James Edward Marion, would later attain the rank of major in the Canadian Army after serving in World War I and joined his father's patent business after the war as an engineering expert.

Law career Advertisement for Patent Solicitors in The Globe, May 2, 1890Fetherstonhaugh began his career with the patent law firm Donald C. Ridout & Co, where he was a draftsman along with Charles Riches and James E. Maybee before his call to the bar in 1889. One year after his bar admission, in 1890, he formed his own firm, Fetherstonhaugh & Co., where he took up practice as a patent lawyer. His patent law practice expanded quickly. In 1895, an Ottawa office was opened at 7 Elgin Street, managed by T.S. Young.

In 1904, Russel S. Smart joined his firm as the manager of the Ottawa office. Smart later took over the legal practice of the firm while Fetherstonhaugh continued his patent agency, forming a partnership that has continued to this day as Smart & Biggar/Fetherstonhaugh.

During his career, Fetherstonhaugh was recognized as a leading expert in his field and was regularly consulted by Parliament regarding legislative amendments to patent laws and regulations. In support of this proposal, Fetherstonhaugh drafted the Empire Patent Act, which was designed to coordinate the policies of patent offices across the British Empire.

Fetherstonhaugh car Photo of the Fetherstonhaugh car, one of the first electric cars in Canada, shown at the Toronto Exhibition c. 1896

Fetherstonhaugh was an enthusiast of new technologies and was most notably an early adopter of the electric automobile. In 1893, Fetherstonhaugh unveiled a battery-powered "horseless carriage" at the John Dixon works factory on Bay Street in Toronto. This was one of the first such carriages to appear in Canada.

An article in The Globe covering the debut of the Fetherstonhaugh vehicle described it as a carriage having four horse power, with a top speed of 15 miles per hour (24 km/h) and a battery that lasted for five hours of continuous driving. It weighed 700 pounds, including a 100-pound motor and 270 pounds of batteries. It had a covered top and windows to protect against the elements, and had electric headlights for night time driving. An iron bar was used to steer as well as control the power. The car was allegedly worth $500 at the time, but Fetherstonhaugh decided to keep it for himself as a personal vehicle with which he commuted to work and around the city. He later purchased his own gasoline generator to recharge the batteries. Fetherstonhaugh kept the car until around 1912, when it was sold. Its whereabouts after 1912 are not known.

The Fetherstonhaugh car appeared at the 1893 Toronto Industrial Exhibition (predecessor to the Canadian National Exhibition), where it was driven around a track for demonstration. It appeared again in 1898 along with other new automobiles. In 1993, a commemorative $100 gold coin designed by John Mardon was issued by the Royal Canadian Mint to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Fetherstonhaugh car.

Fetherstonhaugh's interest in transportation technology also extended beyond electric cars. In 1909, it was reported that an experimental airship was being tested from his Mimico property in collaboration with one of his clients. Fetherstonhaugh also believed that airports would one day become obsolete as aircraft would be able to take off and land from flat rooftops of buildings. It had a view of Lake Ontario but was close to the streetcar line running along Lake Shore Blvd at the time. Lynne Lodge was designed by Henry Sproatt, a prominent 20th century Canadian architect. It was built in a Queen Anne revival style, and it is believed that the building was designed during Sproatt's "independent period", completed before he began a partnership with Ernest Rolph in 1901.

After Fetherstonhaugh's death in 1945, Lynne Lodge was sold to a series of developers, serving a short stint as the Lynne Arms Italian Village restaurant before it was demolished in 1957 to make room for an apartment building. The Towers and the boat house were also later demolished, though parts of the walls can still be seen. Two years later, Fetherstonhaugh married Audrey Victoria Emaygh, a singer from New York who was 32 years his junior. However, his second marriage was an unhappy one, and they divorced shortly thereafter. In his later years, his finances deteriorated and his business was eventually taken over by Russel S. Smart. Upon his death, his estate was valued at only $13,000.