George Percival Ridout was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

-born merchant and politician in Canada West. He represented Toronto in the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada

Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada

The Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada was the lower house of the legislature for the Province of Canada, which consisted of the former provinces of Lower Canada, then known as Canada East and later the province of Quebec, and Upper Canada, then known as Canada West and later the...

 from 1851 to 1854 as an independent Conservative.

He was born in Bristol

Bristol

Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...

, the son of George Ridout and Mary Ann Wright, and came to Philadelphia with his parents in 1820. With his brother Joseph Davis, Ridout was employed with English iron and hardware merchants Tarratt's. In 1828, he moved to York

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

 where he entered the study of law. In 1832, Ridout formed Ridout Brothers and Company, a company dealing in wholesale and retail sales of iron and hardware, with his brother. From 1844 to 1852, he served as president of the Toronto Board of Trade

Toronto Board of Trade

The Toronto Board of Trade is Toronto's chamber of commerce, the largest local chamber of commerce in Canada, representing more than 10,000 business and individual members with about 500,000 employees across Canada and annual revenues of more than $200 billion .It is a non-profit organization with...

. In 1851, he was elected to Toronto city council and the Toronto public school board of trustees. Ridout also ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 1851. He was defeated when he ran for reelection to the provincial assembly in 1854. Ridout retired from the hardware business in 1866. He became governor for the British America Assurance Company in 1853 and became manager for the same company in 1871, serving until his death in Toronto at the age of 65.