Before it became the site of Camp X, the land on the shores of Lake Ontario was farmland owned by the Sinclair family.
William Sinclair was born in Scotland on July 11, 1810. He married Margaret Prentince, also born in Scotland, in 1833. The Sinclairs came to Whitby in 1833 and resided at a farm near Almonds. In 1861 they purchased Glenrath Farm, which was located at Lot 18, Broken Front Concession, Whitby Township.
It was here that William and Margaret raised their 12 children, seven daughters and five sons. Their second son, John Sinclair, had his own farmland in Whitby which he later donated for the Sinclair School (now Sinclair Secondary School) in 1874. Glenrath Farm stayed in the family until 1935 when it passed into the Sinclair estate and was covertly acquired by the British Security Coordination (BSC) to build Camp X.
