Background
He was the son of the politician John Gamble, and was born in Kingston, Upper Canada.
He was the son of the politician John Gamble, and was born in Kingston, Upper Canada.
He started a store in Toronto before becoming a miller in Etobicoke. His business interests expanded to include a hotel, a distillery and shipping to transport his flour, as well as local crops, to Toronto. After 1835 he also became involved in developing Mimico.
He was active in building new roads and bridges, opening up territory for development.
Flood damage by the Humber River in 1850, and the repeal of the British Corn Laws in 1849 (bringing a dramatic fall in the price of his flour) caused his milling business to collapse, but his reputation as a business leader endured and he was active in the foundation of the Bank of Toronto in 1855. The last remnants of his milling business fell out of his hands in 1862 when his mortgage was foreclosed, leaving him on the cusp of bankruptcy.
In 1838, they had a daughter named Janice. Gamble died in Toronto, Ontario on 20 March 1881.