Richard Sutton Frizzell

Richard Sutton Frizzell 1817-1876

Richard Frizzell, a Tory Loyalist active during the Rebellion of 1837, was disdainful of the rebel's cause. On October 18, 1837 he removed a 'Liberty or Death' flag from Gibson House and wove it into the tails of the rebels' horses outside. On December 4, noticing rebel movement on Yonge Street, Frizzell approached Benjamin Thorne, Thornhill's founder, for assistance. Thorne was reluctant to lend a horse as his Mill workers were mostly rebels, but he offered encouragement. After warning Sir Francis Bond Head at York (Toronto), Frizzell took part in the ensuing skirmishes but he refused to betray the location of his rebel friend Samuel Lount who was captured and hanged for treason.

Erected by the Society for the Preservation of Historic Thornhill with the assistance of the Ontario Ministry of Culture and Recreation and the Thornhill Recycling Association, 1981.