Ernest Ford
1889 – 1933
Mount Pleasant Cemetery
Plot P Section 28 Lot 11
Long before the Ford name became a fixture in Toronto politics, its story began in far less public circumstances, with a child sent across the Atlantic and a life shaped by uncertainty, loss and resilience.
That story, in part, leads to Mount Pleasant Cemetery.
Records uncovered through genealogical research suggest that Ernest Ford, grandfather of Ontario premier Doug Ford and former Toronto mayor Rob Ford, arrived in Canada in 1902 as part of Britain’s Home Children program. He was just 11 years old.
At the time, some children were sent overseas under labels like “unruly” or “disorderly”. Others were simply poor, orphaned or living in unstable circumstances. Institutions placed thousands of children with Canadian families, often far from what they had known and with little say in the matter.
Despite having relatives in England, Ernest was sent across the Atlantic, travelling in steerage with dozens of other children. Later in life, records show he claimed he was born in Canada.
What followed was a life shaped by both hardship and service. Ernest enlisted in the First World War as part of the Canadian Expeditionary Force and was awarded the Good Conduct Badge, along with several campaign medals. In 1924, he married Celia McNicol in Toronto and began building a life in the city.
Ernest died in 1933 and was buried at Mount Pleasant Cemetery. That same year, his youngest son, Doug Ford Sr., was born. Just two years later, another tragedy struck when Ernest and Celia’s child, Henry, died in an accident at age six.
Celia and Henry are also buried at Mount Pleasant Cemetery, although Celia lived until 1973.
From those beginnings, the Ford family’s presence in Toronto continued to grow in business, in community life and eventually, in public office. Doug Ford Sr. became a successful businessman, co-founding a manufacturing company in Rexdale, and began the family’s modern political legacy, serving as a Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1995 to 1999, representing Etobicoke—Humber. His sons, Rob and Doug Ford, would later become two of the city’s most well-known political figures. Rob served as mayor from 2010 to 2014 and Doug has served as Premier of Ontario since 2018.
But beyond headlines and public life, there is also a quieter continuity.
At Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Ernest, Celia and Henry Ford are part of the landscape of Toronto’s history, resting among generations of families whose stories began in many different places and unfolded in unexpected ways.
Their graves connect the Ford name not only to politics or public life, but to a longer story of immigration, loss, resilience and belonging. Like many families, theirs is not defined by a single narrative. It is shaped over time by circumstance, choice and the ways each generation responds to what came before.
And in that way, it reflects the city itself.
Sources: Toronto Sun - https://torontosun.com/2012/07/31/rob-fords-ancestor-landed-in-canada-for-being-unruly?shem=rimspwouoe,#
Wikipedia – Ford Family (Canada): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_family_(Canada)
Photo: www.findagrave.com
