Fred Gardiner - Early Life

Early Life

Fred Gardiner was born on January 21, 1895 in Toronto, one of three children born to David and Victoria Gardiner, the others being Myrtle and Samuel. David Gardiner was born in October 1854 in county Monaghan, Ireland, one of ten children. David emigrated to Toronto in 1874, first working as a labourer, then as a carpenter, eventually working as an attendant at the Toronto Asylum for the Insane, and a longer-term position as a guard at the Central Prison on Strachan Avenue. While working at the Asylum, he met Victoria Robertson from Port Hope, Ontario. The two married in April 1888. Son Samuel was born in 1893, Fred in 1895 and daughter Myrtle in 1899. The family lived on Arthur Street (today's Dundas Street West), near Euclid Street in the west-end of Toronto, before settling at 199½ Euclid in 1911.

As a child, Fred, known as Ted, assisted his father, who was a landlord for several properties in the Arthur-Euclid area. Fred also delivered telegrams by bicycle on holidays and weekends. Fred attended Grace Street School, (where he had to repeat fourth grade) until 1909 when he started to attend Parkdale Collegiate Institute on Jameson Avenue. It was in the third year at Parkdale that Gardiner started to develop his competitiveness, a trait he would use for material gain and political ends later in life.

In 1911, Gardiner first became involved in politics. His father, a member of the Loyal Orange Lodge, was also a member of the Conservative Party. Fred first helped out on a campaign for the board of education. In December 1911, he worked on the campaign for E. W. J. Owens in the provincial election.

In 1913, Gardiner entered the University of Toronto, in general arts, transferring in the second year to honours political science, considered a stepping stone to the law studies. Gardiner paid for his tuition out of his own savings. Gardiner joined the varsity rugby team in 1914, a year that the team won the national championship. Gardiner had to drop out of the varsity team when he did not have enough money for the fees and his father refused to pay. Gardiner worked hard at his studies and he won the political economy department's Alexander Mackenzie Medal in 1916.

After his third year, Gardiner enlisted in the militia in the spring of 1916. He signed on with the Depot Regiment of the Canadian Mounted Rifles. The Regiment was disbanded in 1917, but Gardiner was transferred to an infantry battalion in the Canadian Expeditionary Force. He took an officer's course at Reading University and was assigned as an officer with the Royal Flying Corps, serving as a flight instructor. Gardiner only saw action after September 1918, piloting a Handley-Page night bomber on several missions.

While serving in the army, Gardiner first picked up his lifelong interests in gambling, being proficient at cards and dice. He also developed a capacity for Scotch whisky. Gardiner played poker every day of the eleven-day return voyage after the war. His stake in the game started at $1,500, dipped to $300 and ended at $3,000.

Because of his service in the war, Gardiner was given an honours degree by the University, and he did not have to finish his fourth year of studies. Gardiner enrolled at Osgoode Hall in law, where returning soldiers could skip the first year, and take the second year in one summer semester. Gardiner was not impeded by the accelerated schedule, and he placed first in the class of 1920. He received the Chancellor Van Koughnet scholarship, a $400 cash prize and the Law Society's gold medal. Gardiner treasured the gold medal, and kept it on his desk for the length of his career.

Gardiner used most of his $400 prize to buy an engagement ring for Audrey Seaman, a railway clerk and daughter of the proprietor of a prosperous flooring company. Gardiner had known her since 1913. They married in October 1921. They had two children, William Warren and Anne. Anne would later marry a law partner of Gardiner's, J. B. Conlin.