Henry Cockshutt

Born in Brantford, Ontario on July 8, 1868, the son of Ignatius Cockshutt and Elizabeth Foster, he started working in the family business, Cockshutt Plow Company, in 1884. He worked his way up through the company, becoming the secretary-treasurer in 1888. In 1893, he became the company's managing director. In 1896, he married Isabelle Rolls. They had two daughters. In 1895, he began an international tour to drum up customers for the family business. In January 1898 he was elected president of the Brantford Board of Trade.

In 1906 he was president of the Canadian Manufacturers' Association. He became president of the Cockshutt Plow Company in 1911. After taking over, the company moved from a family-owned business to one that was publicly traded. He also began expanding the company, acquiring the Avery Wagon Company, the Brantford Carriage Company and the Frost and Wood Company Limited, using them to provide a wide range of farm implements to farmers. Cockshutt also sat on the board of directors of large corporations including the Bank of Montreal, Canadian Pacific Railway, and the Bell Telephone Company, which was special for him as he had met the founder, Alexander Graham Bell, as a child.