Article

Robert Hobson

Published Online January 24, 2008

Last Edited December 16, 2013

Robert Hobson, industrialist (b at Berlin [Kitchener], Canada W 13 Aug 1861; d at Hamilton, Ont 25 Feb 1926). Hobson worked first for the Grand Trunk Railway and in 1896 he became secretary-treasurer of the Hamilton Blast Furnace Co.

Hobson, Robert

Robert Hobson, industrialist (b at Berlin [Kitchener], Canada W 13 Aug 1861; d at Hamilton, Ont 25 Feb 1926). Hobson worked first for the Grand Trunk Railway and in 1896 he became secretary-treasurer of the Hamilton Blast Furnace Co. His executive abilities soon brought him to the top of a firm that before his death became Canada's leading steel producer. In 1899 he became general manager of the Hamilton Steel and Iron Co, and in 1910 vice-president and general manager of the new Steel Co of Canada (STELCO). By 1916 he was president. During these years he presided over a massive expansion and modernization of the corporation's steel plants and helped to build a secure base for it in widely diversified markets. Simultaneously, his influence in the business community grew enormously as his directorships proliferated. By the 1920s he was in the front ranks of Canada's "captains of industry."