Thomas Talbot (July 19, 1771February 5, 1853) was an Irish-born Canadian soldier and colonial administrator. He founded the community of Port Talbot, Ontario, which was at one time the most prosperous town in the region due to his insistence on building quality roads, and was responsible for enticing 50,000 people to settle in the Thames River area. Background Talbot was born at Malahide Castle in County Dublin, Ireland. He was the fourth son of Richard Talbot and Margaret Talbot, 1st Baroness Talbot of Malahide (see the Baron Talbot of Malahide). Richard Talbot, 2nd Baron Talbot de Malahide and Sir John Talbot were his elder brothers. Early military career Talbot received a commission in the army as ensign before he was twelve years old, and was appointed at sixteen to aid his relative, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. He saw active service in Holland and at Gibraltar. Canada Talbot immigrated to Canada in 1791, where he became personal secretary to John Graves Simcoe, Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada. After returning to England, Talbot convinced the government to allow him to implement a land settlement scheme along the shore of Lake Erie. He chose property which today is in Elgin County, Ontario in adjoining townships, Dunwich and Aldborough (today called West Elgin), when his petition for was granted in 1803. It was May 21, 1803, that he landed at a spot which has been called since Port Talbot, and built a log cabin. Nearby, he added a sawmill, a cooper shop, a blacksmith shop, and a poultry house along with a barn. When settlers began to arrive in 1809, Talbot added a gristmill as well. Here he ruled as an absolute, if erratic, potentate, doling out strips of land to people of his choosing, a group that emphatically did not include supporters of the American Revolution, liberals or anyone insufficiently respectful. For every settler he placed on of land, Talbot received an additional for himself. He wanted permanent and compact settlement. One of the conditions attached to the free grant of , which he offered to settlers, was the right to purchase an additional hundred and at $3 each, and the promise of a road in front of each farm within three and a half years. The other condition was the building of a small house and the clearing and sowing of of land. The result of the road-making provision was that the