John Deighton

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

John Deighton (November 1830 – May 29, 1875), generally known as Gassy Jack, was a Canadian bar owner who was born in Hull, England. The Gastown neighbourhood of Vancouver, British Columbia is named for him.

A statue of Gassy Jack in Gastown, Vancouver, Canada

Between 1862 and 1867 John Deighton ran a bar in New Westminster, British Columbia. Then he opened a bar on the south side of Burrard Inlet, the Globe Saloon. The bar was built by idle sawmill workers in exchange for all the whiskey they could drink in one sitting. ^[1] His patrons were mainly sailors and workers from the nearby sawmill. This bar was demolished when the townsite of Granville was established and was afterwards rebuilt as Deighton House. Brother Tom Deighton and his wife took over the business in 1874 and John began working the steamship that plied the Fraser River. However after a family quarrel a few months later John resumed management of the saloon and operated it until his death the following year.

Deighton was known as Gassy Jack because of his talkative nature and his penchant for storytelling. The name stuck and the area around his bar is now known as Gastown.

He is interred at the Forest Lawn Cemetery in New Westminster, British Columbia. The location of the monument is N49 13.322 W122 53.815 (WGS84).