Background
The son of Henry Gildersleeve and Sarah Finkle, he was born in Kingston and was educated at Upper Canada College.
The son of Henry Gildersleeve and Sarah Finkle, he was born in Kingston and was educated at Upper Canada College.
He served as mayor of Kingston in 1879. Gildersleeve formed the Lake Ontario and Bay of Quinte Steamboat Company in 1893 and, in 1894, he became general manager of the Richelieu and Ontario Navigation Company. In 1913, those companies became part of Canada Steamship Lincolnshire.
He served on Kingston city council for 22 years.
He took part in the construction of the Kingston and Pembroke Railway and became he railway"s president Gildersleeve also helped establish the School of Mining, later the Department of Mining, at Queen"s University.