Chapter L: Joseph Theophile Decary (7)

Sir John Macdonald returned to power in 1878, but he could not secure the cooperation of London financiers in the building of the railroad. When it was seen that it was impossible to carry the project through as a government railroad, in 1880 the four men who had made the old Minnesota railroad a paying investment, undertook the other task. A syndicate was formed, known as the Canadian Pacific Railway Company, ultimately capitalized at seventy-five million dollars, with twenty-five million dollars of land grant bonds, and this company built the railroad from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The task accomplished was a gigantic one. The movement had the support of the conservative government, but was bitterly assailed by the opposition, both in the house and through the press. Again and again the word went out through the papers and through party utterances that the railroad could never be made a paying investment. It was almost impossible to get investors to buy stock. At times the treasury seemed utterly exhausted. It is said that one day Donald A. Smith came late to a directors’ meeting. He looked into the faces of his colleagues and said: “Nobody has any money; let’s adjourn until tomorrow.” The following day he smilingly entered the room. “Has anybody raised any money?” he asked. Everyone replied: “Not a cent.” “I have raised another million,” announced Mr. Smith, “and that will last us until somebody gets more money.” Never for a moment did he lose faith in the ultimate triumph of the venture. He inspired others with much of his own contagious enthusiasm. Again and again when his associates seemed utterly discouraged he inspired them with hope and when he was in Great Britain and the directors wrote him a long letter indicating their utter despair he cabled back one word “Craigellachie,” recalling at once the old Highland clan cry “Stand Fast, Craigellachie,” and once more inspired by their chieftain the men did stand fast and on the 7th of November, 1885, at Craigellachie, British Columbia, Donald A. Smith, then a white haired man, drove a golden spike into the cedar tie upon which the rails met from east to west. The weight of the Herculean task which he had accomplished between 1880 and 1885 had changed the strong, black bearded, sturdy man to a white haired veteran. Before night came on the Marquis of Lansdowne, governor general of Canada, had received a telegram from Queen Victoria congratulating the Canadian people on an event “of greatest importance to the whole British empire.” Speaking of the Canadian Pacific Railway Sir Charles Tupper said:

“The Canadian Pacific Railway would have no existence today, notwithstanding all the government did to support that undertaking, had it not been for the indomitable pluck and energy and determination, both financially and in every other respect, of Sir Donald Smith.” Mr. James J. Hill, president of the Great Northern Railway of the United States, also said that “the one person to whose efforts and to whose confidence in the growth of our country, our success in early railway development is due is Sir Donald A. Smith.”

The splendid work done by Mr. Smith won him imperial honors. He was created a knight commander of the Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George by Queen Victoria in 1886 and a decade later received a knight grand cross in the same order, being privately invested by Her Majesty at Windsor Castle. At the time of the Diamond Jubilee in 1897 Queen Victoria bestowed a further mark of royal favor upon Mr. Smith by elevating him to the peerage of the united kingdom as Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal of Glencoe, in the county of Argyll, and of Montreal, in the province of Quebec and Dominion of Canada. In 1908 he was appointed a knight of the grand cross of the Royal Victorian Order and was also elected a fellow of the Royal Society, while in 1910 he became a knight of grace of the Order of the Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem.

In the meantime he had become identified with so many financial interests that it would be impossible to enumerate them. He also remained active in politics, unyielding as ever in all matters where subserviency was demanded by party exigencies. It has been said:

“He was not a legislator; he was not a statesman; he never wanted office; and he seldom spoke. He was forced into the house by his commanding personality and he sat there representing the silent power of the empire builder. But it is not to be supposed that he was not a working member. Probably few men did more valuable parliamentary work, while he remained a member of the house.”

In 1874 Mr. Smith resigned his seat in the Manitoba legislature, but remained a representative of the province at Ottawa, sitting for Selkirk until 1880. In 1887, at the general election, he was returned to the house of commons as member for Montreal West, now St. Antoine division, by a majority of fourteen hundred and fifty, and was reelected in 1891 by a majority of thirty-seven hundred and six, remaining the representative for Montreal West until 1896. In 1892 he was an active participant in the commercial congress held in London and in March, 1896, he served as a delegate to the Manitoba government to aid in deciding the Manitoba school question, his colleagues being Messrs. Dickey and Desjardins. In April of the same year he was sworn of the queen’s privy council of Canada, and he was commissioner to the Pacific cable conference held in London in 1896, in which year he once more attended the commercial congress. During the existence of the Imperial Federation League he was vice president of that organization for Quebec. In April, 1896, ere the conservative administration went out of power, he was appointed Canadian high commissioner in Great Britain, succeeding Sir Charles Tupper, who had filled the office since its creation in 1884. The high commissionership combines all the functions of an ambassador and financial agent but has no diplomatic standing. The appointment as high commissioner is a political one, but when Sir Wilfrid Laurier came into power Lord Strathcona still retained the position as if there had been no change in government. When the conservatives returned to power in 1911 he remained in London, with the approval of all Canada. When the expenses of the high commissioner’s office in London were being discussed in the Dominion house of commons the late Sir Richard Cartwright said:

“I believe that Canada has in very important respects been extremely well served by Lord Strathcona since he has represented us in Great Britain. It is a matter of no small moment to Canada that our representative should be well and favorably known on the London Stock Exchange as a man of the highest honor and probity, and a man whose word is universally admitted to be his bond. I need not tell the house that the emoluments are absolutely naught to Lord Strathcona. I need not tell the house that in all probability, in the exercise of hospitality which he has indulged in during a single London season, he will vastly exceed all that is nominally assigned to him as the representative of Canada. I think every member of the house who has occasion to visit London will testify that, whether or not the office in other respects comes up to all that he desires, Lord Strathcona, at any rate, is worthy of upholding in every possible way the honor and dignity of Canada. I may further add that Lord Strathcona is a man whose advice is eagerly sought and has very great weight, indeed, with the British government and with Englishmen, Scotsmen and Irishmen of every rank and station. As regards his influence in what I may call the diplomatic circle and the ministerial circle and on the Stock Exchange, Canada would find it pretty hard, indeed, to replace Lord Strathcona.”

Lord Strathcona’s name stands high on the roll of those who have figured most prominently in financial circles in the Dominion. He was one of the large shareholders of the Bank of Montreal, became its vice president in 1882 and president in 1887. It was only after many years’ residence in London that he resigned in 1905, whereupon he was immediately elected honorary president for life. He studied banking from every possible standpoint and in all of its relations to other business interests. His first address to the shareholders after he became president was a notable one. He spoke of the bountiful harvests in Canada and in the American northwest and recognized the fact that shipping interests must bring the grain to Montreal and that the bank would benefit thereby. Few men would have considered the question in so wide a scope. Year after year during his presidency Lord Strathcona continued to call attention to the wealth of the nation as provided by the agricultural districts of the northwest and time has proven the wisdom of his judgment in this regard.

Not only was Lord Strathcona a railroad builder, a distinguished financier and a political leader, but he was also one of Canada’s most generous philanthropists. He never for a moment forgot his own struggles and his hand was ever out-reaching to assist another. His munificence was princely, yet his giving was most unostentatious in its character and no one will ever know the extent of his private charities. Some of his gifts, however, he could not conceal. In association with Lord Mount Stephen he gave one million for the erection of a great hospital in Montreal to commemorate the queen’s jubilee. Later, when the building had been erected on the mountain side, they gave equally in the sum of eight hundred thousand to endow the institution and the Royal Victoria is today one of the best equipped hospitals on the continent. Modern science has been exhausted to furnish it adequately and the large endowment makes it possible to keep pace with the newest discoveries and inventions. McGill University has again and again been the beneficiary of Lord Strathcona until the sum total of his gifts reaches two million dollars, and in addition he has presented to the university the land on which to erect the new medical building and the site and building of the Royal Victoria College. He also gave the income of a million dollars as an endowment to the Royal Victoria College and the chair of zoology. The former was founded for the higher education of women and is one of the most popular and useful of his bequests to McGill. Lord Strathcona was early chosen a governor of McGill and was elected chancellor of the university in 1889. The gifts to the university for the faculty of medicine included the Leanchoil endowment, in memory of his mother, fifty thousand dollars; for endowment of the chair of pathology, fifty thousand dollars; for endowment of the department of hygiene, fifty thousand dollars. The faculty of applied science benefited by the endowment of its pension fund, fifty thousand dollars, while the faculty of arts also benefited by a like amount for the same object. Of the five hundred thousand dollar gift, given in 1909, it was stipulated that fifty thousand should go for augmenting the salaries of the professional staff. To the Trafalgar Institute, affiliated with McGill University, he gave thirty thousand dollars. Together with Lord Mount Stephen he endowed a Canadian scholarship in the Royal College of Music, London, and subsequently endowed a second scholarship on his own account. Lord Strathcona took an active interest in the cooperative scheme put in operation in 1912 by the Montreal Theological Colleges affiliated with McGill and in the summer of 1913 contributed one hundred thousand dollars to a half million dollar fund raised by the friends of the four institutions concerned--Anglican, Presbyterian, Methodist and Congregational--to place the joint work upon a permanent basis. As honorary chairman of the Western committee of the Young Men’s Christian Association Lord Strathcona gave one hundred and fifty thousand dollars to funds for the Young Men’s Christian Association buildings in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia.

Lord Strathcona’s patriotism and generosity found expression in the equipment of the famous Strathcona Horse, a military force of five hundred and forty men completely equipped and sent to the front at a critical period of the war. He paid the expenses of equipment, pay and transport until the regiment reached Cape Town. The service of the regiment was, indeed, a credit to its founder and has become a part of the military history of Canada. Another of Lord Strathcona’s beneficent gifts was the contribution of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars to create an annual fund of ten thousand dollars for the encouragement of physical and military training in the public schools of the Dominion. In writing upon this subject Lord Strathcona said:

“While I attach the highest importance to the advantages of physical training and elementary drill for all children of both sexes, I am particularly anxious that the especial value of military drill, including rifle shooting for boys capable of using rifles, should be constantly borne in mind. My object is not only to help to improve the physical and intellectual capabilities of the children by inculcating habits of alertness, orderliness and prompt obedience but also to bring up the boys to patriotism and to a realization that the first duty of a free citizen is to be prepared to defend his country. The Dominion at the present time and for many years to come can hardly hope to be able to give so long a period of training to her military forces as by itself would suffice to make them efficient soldiers, but if all boys had acquired a fair acquaintance while at school with simple military drill and rifle shooting the degree of efficiency which could be reached in the otherwise short period which can be devoted to the military training of the Dominion forces would in my opinion be enormously enhanced.”

Among other evidences of his generosity was a gift of one hundred thousand dollars in June, 1913, through the minister of militia, for the purchase of a site on Lorne Crescent for a drill hall for the exclusive use of McGill students.

Lord Strathcona has been equally generous in his assistance of Scottish institutions. He gave to Marischal College, Aberdeen, one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars and to Aberdeen University fifty thousand dollars. He became chancellor of the university in 1903 and held the office throughout his remaining days, while from the students came the honor of election as lord rector of that university. He founded the Leanchoil Cottage Hospital in his native town of Forres and gave generously to other charitable and educational institutions of his native land. In 1902 he gave a million dollars to the fund for King Edward’s Hospital and about the same time gave fifty-two thousand, five hundred dollars to Queen Alexandra’s fund for the unemployed.

Lord Strathcona was honored with the friendship of Queen Victoria, King Edward and Queen Alexandra and of King George and Queen Mary and for many years His Royal Highness the Duke of Connaught regarded him as a close friend. He was the host of King George and Queen Mary when as Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York they visited Montreal in September, 1911. By invitation he was present at the coronation of King Edward and Queen Alexandra in 1902 and at the funeral of the former in 1910 he was one of Canada’s representatives. Again in his official capacity he was present at the coronation of King George and Queen Mary in 1911.

Many academic honors were conferred upon Lord Strathcona. He received the LL. D. degree from Cambridge in 1887; LL. D., Yale, 1892; LL. D., Aberdeen, 1899; LL. D., Laval, 1902; LL. D., Toronto, 1903; LL. D., Queen’s, Kingston, 1905; LL. D., Ottawa, 1906; LL. D., St. Andrew’s, 1911; and D. C. L., Durham, 1912. He was presented with the freedom of the city of Aberdeen in 1902; of Edinburgh in 1903; of Bristol in 1908; and of Bath in 1911. Lord Strathcona’s portrait by Arless was exhibited at the Royal Academy in London in 1890. Another portrait by Jongers was presented to McGill University by the governors of that institution in 1901. Still another portrait was presented to the Canada Club of London in 1902. Lord Strathcona was honorary president of the Mount Royal Club and also of the Canadian Club of Montreal. In 1898 he was appointed honorary lieutenant colonel of the Victoria Rifles, Montreal, a tribute to the interest he had taken in the military movement in Canada. In 1902 he became honorary colonel of the Eighth Volunteer Battalion of the King’s Liverpool Regiment. In 1909 he was honored by being made honorary colonel of the Fifteenth Light Horse and in 1910 he was made the honorary colonel of the Seventy-ninth Highlanders. At the house of the Royal Society of Arts, Adelphi, London, on November 15, 1912, Lord Sanderson, on behalf of the Duke of Connaught, president of the society, presented the society’s Albert medal to Lord Strathcona “for his services in improving the railway communications, developing the resources and promoting the commerce and industry of Canada and other parts of the British empire.” Lord Sanderson read a message from the Duke of Connaught in which His Royal Highness said: “In my present office of governor general of Canada I have had special opportunities of fully realizing the great services Lord Strathcona has rendered to the Dominion and to the industrial and commercial progress of the British empire. As an old friend of many years’ standing I rejoiced that, as president of the Society of Arts, I had been able to add another mark of appreciation of his long and valuable career of usefulness.”

Lord Strathcona was a familiar figure at the Athenaeum Club in Pall Mall, the center of British culture and exclusiveness. In one of its handsome dining rooms he delighted to gather together distinguished men of Great Britain to meet visiting Canadians of high rank and greatly was the honor appreciated. Sir Wilfrid Laurier and Mr. Borden have both enjoyed the High Commissioner’s hospitality in this luxurious form and realized afresh what a genius for entertaining was his.

A contemporary biographer has written:

“On November 12, 1913, Lord Strathcona suffered bereavement by the death of Lady Strathcona, who died in her eighty-ninth year, at their London home, Grosvenor Square, most unexpectedly. Pneumonia was the cause of death. Lord Strathcona bore the blow with much fortitude and made continuous acknowledgement of many hundreds of messages of sympathy which came to him from all quarters and classes, from the king and the royal family downwards.

“Isabella Sophia, Lady Strathcona, was the daughter of the late Mr. Richard Hardisty, long a resident of Montreal and also for many years one of the trusted agents of the Hudson’s Bay Company in Labrador. She became the wife of Lord Strathcona when he was twenty-nine years of age. The early married life of Lord and Lady Strathcona was spent in the bleak winds of Labrador. It was a terrible country in those days. Winter comes early and stays late--and such a winter! A few short hours of frozen day, then night--a long uncanny night. Sometimes the snow falls through weeks on weeks and no man dares to move beyond the circle of the little settlement. Wolves in those days would sweep the icy paths, truculent, hungry, seeking their sustenance. At night about the little camp their hordes would sweep howling in mournful unison. By day, men went their ways but cautiously, watching the hard grey sky above and the hard white snow below.

“Lady Strathcona accompanied her husband everywhere in his long years of service of the Hudson’s Bay Company. They saw Lake Winnipeg before the city was. They traveled the dreadful wastes where the great Mackenzie river tumbles across the Arctic circle. Dreary Keewatin they learned from end to end, tramping in and out from the posts on Hudson’s bay. They threaded the forests on the Ontario hinterland and on foot or by dog sled paced the thousands of miles of prairie that lie between Lake Winnipeg and the Rocky mountains.

“Lord and Lady Strathcona spent over sixty years of happy married life together. Lady Strathcona maintained her interest in Canada to the very end and took the keenest interest in public affairs. She followed events in Canada closely and was especially interested in everything pertaining to McGill University. All who were the recipients of her hospitality in London, either as the wife of Canada’s high commissioner or as private guests were charmed with the kindness displayed to them by Lady Strathcona. Lady Strathcona was presented, with Lord Strathcona, to Queen Victoria in Windsor Castle in July, 1886, and to King Edward and Queen Alexandra at Buckingham Palace in March, 1903, and April, 1904. She was present, with Lord Strathcona, in Westminster Abbey at the coronation of King Edward and Queen Alexandra. With Lord Strathcona she was also present at the coronation of King George and Queen Mary, in June, 1911.

“Although a woman of a retiring and altogether unostentatious nature Lady Strathcona throughout her life splendidly seconded her husband in his innumerable acts and schemes for the benefit of the people of Canada and of mankind at large. With her daughter, the Hon. Mrs. Howard, Lady Strathcona gave one hundred thousand dollars to McGill University for the erection of a new wing to the medical building. To Queen Alexandra’s fund for the relief of the unemployed of Great Britain she gave fifty-two thousand, five hundred dollars and from time to time she also gave largely in many directions. Throughout she exercised a large and gracious hospitality. At Knebworth House and at Glencoe in Scotland she was beloved by the people for her many acts of kindness and generosity.

“Lady Strathcona accompanied Lord Strathcona on his flying visit to Canada in the autumn of 1913, when His Lordship came to Montreal to take part in the ceremonies connected with the congress of the American Bar Association. Lady Strathcona at that time appeared to be in the best of health and spirits. They were present together at the recent reception given by the Duke and Duchess of Connaught at St. James Palace just before Their Royal Highnesses left London to return to Canada.

“Lady Strathcona’s funeral took place to Highgate cemetery on November 18, after a simple service in the Church of St. Mark. Lord Strathcona was a pathetic figure as he followed the coffin to the church, leaning on the arm of his daughter, the Hon. Mrs. Howard. Among the numerous floral tributes was a handsome wreath with a tender inscription from Queen Mother Alexandra. It bore the words, ‘To dear Lady Strathcona--a sorrowing tribute to the memory of a beloved wife and companion for sixty-five years--From Alexandra.’”

It was but little more than two months after the death of Lady Strathcona that Lord Strathcona passed away, his death occurring January 21, 1914. His was a strikingly splendid figure even at the age of ninety-three. He had learned well the lessons of life. Nobility of character and high purpose had won for him imperial honors and had made him one of the world’s empire builders.

ROBERT JAMES INGLIS.

At the time of his death, which occurred on the 25th of June, 1903, Robert James Inglis was at the head of the most extensive merchant tailoring establishment and the best known business of its kind in Montreal, which was developed entirely through his efforts and capability. He was recognized as a self-made man and his example should serve as a source of encouragement and inspiration to others. He was born in Hamilton, Ontario, in 1856 and in 1875, when but nineteen years of age, he opened a tailoring establishment on St. Joseph, now Notre Dame Street. Although his start in life was comparatively unimportant, he soon demonstrated his capability and proved that he was worthy of confidence and support. Year by year his patronage grew and after nine years at his original location he removed to Beaver Hall Hill while later he was for five years on St. Catherine Street West. Less than one month prior to his demise he opened his establishment in a business block which he had erected, having well appointed and attractive quarters in which he carried a large and carefully selected line of goods. In style, excellence of design and workmanship the output of his establishment could not be surpassed, and progressive methods and honorable dealing led to the establishment of a business of large and gratifying proportions.

Mr. Inglis was survived by his widow and four sons: Douglas S., Robert J., W. Stewart, and Lockhart C. The first two are in charge of the business of R. J. Inglis, Ltd., of Montreal, and W. Stewart is in charge of the branch of the firm in Winnipeg, established after the death of his father. Mr. Inglis had reached a position where the comforts and luxuries of life were at his command but death called him when he was only forty-seven years of age. He was a prominent member of Victoria Lodge, No. 57, A. F. & A. M., but he was never a club man, preferring the enjoyment of the pleasures of his home. He possessed a strong character, marked individuality and pleasing personality and was loved by all who knew him. His acquaintance was a wide one, for his entire business life had been spent in Montreal and he had gained for himself a creditable position in business and social circles.

CHARLES BLAIR GORDON.

Manufacturing and financial interests in Montreal find a worthy representative in Charles Blair Gordon, practical, progressive and determined. His familiarity with the line of business in which he is engaged, his recognition of opportunities and his laudable ambition have gained him distinction and success, and material progress has been largely promoted through his efforts. Perhaps there is no other man in Canadian business life whose career so aptly illustrates the reward of conscientious business energy. Montreal has reason to be proud of the fact that he is one of her native sons. He was born here in 1867, his parents being John and Jane Gordon. After passing through consecutive grades to the high school and mastering the branches of learning therein taught, he took up the more difficult lessons to be learned in the school of experience, entering business circles in the employ of McIntyre, Sons & Company. In that connection he gained his first knowledge of business methods and measures, and the experience which he thus acquired led him to believe that he might profitably pursue a business career independently. He left that firm, therefore, to become the organizer of the Standard Shirt Company, of which he became the manager, and which he conducted very successfully. At the organization of the Dominion Textile Company, Mr. Gordon became at first managing director and vice president. He was elected to the presidency of the company in 1909 and has since remained at its head, bending his energies to administrative direction and executive control. The business, which is one of the worlds’ largest cotton manufacturing concerns, has developed steadily under his guidance, for he keeps in close touch with trade conditions and studies every question bearing upon manufacturing in his line. He was also at one time vice president of the Montmorency Cotton Mills Company and of the Colonial Bleaching & Printing Company. He was likewise a director of the Merchants Cotton Company and is still financially and officially connected with the Montreal Cotton Company. He is a director of the Bank of Montreal, president of Penman’s, Ltd., president of Hill Crest Collieries, Ltd., vice president of the well known financial bond and investment house of C. Meredith, Ltd., and a director of the Ogilvie Flour Mills Company, Ltd. He is likewise a director of the Ritz-Carlton Company, owners of the magnificent new hotel, the Royal Trust Company, the Dominion Bridge Company, and numerous other corporations in the Dominion of Canada. His judgment is sought as a valuable factor in the management of all the different business organizations with which he is connected. McGill University has requisitioned his services and made him one of its governors. To further the interests of trade he has become a member of the Canadian Manufacturers Association and was elected vice president of the Quebec branch in 1911.

In 1897 Mr. Gordon was united in marriage to Miss Annie Brooks, of Seaforth, Ontario, and they reside at Terra Nova on St. Luc road, Ville Notre Dame des Neiges, Montreal. His social interests largely center in his membership in the Mount Royal, Canada, Montreal Hunt, Montreal Racquet, Montreal Jockey and Royal St. Lawrence Yacht Clubs. Mr. Gordon is a typical man of the age. He has gone beyond many who perhaps started out ahead of him in the race of life, this being due to his close application, unfaltering energy, and an earnest and persistent desire to accomplish at any one point in his career the utmost possibility for success at that point. He belongs to that class of valued and representative citizens who in advancing individual interests have also largely promoted the public good.

LESLIE HALE BOYD.

Leslie Hale Boyd is not only a student of the law but also of the vital public questions which are engaging wide attention, and is, as well, widely known in connection with many athletic and similar organizations. Montreal numbers him among her native sons, his birth having here occurred July 31, 1873, his parents being Andrew and Georgina L. (Hale) Boyd. Passing through consecutive grades in the public schools, he entered the Montreal high school and eventually pursued the arts and law courses in McGill University, which in 1894 conferred upon him the B. A. degree and in 1897 that of B. C. L. In 1898 he began practice as an advocate, and while advancement at the bar is proverbially slow no dreary novitiate awaited him. Almost from the beginning of his professional career he was accorded a liberal clientage and is now one of the prominent practitioners of the Montreal bar. In 1908 he was created king’s counsellor. As he has won success in his profession, he has made investments in real estate and is now the owner of considerable valuable property in the city.

In 1898 Mr. Boyd was married to Miss Emma Constance, a daughter of the late William Farrell, of Montreal, but her death occurred in August, 1909. Mr. Boyd makes his home at No. 1036 Dorchester Street West. He is a Presbyterian in religious faith and is identified with various social organizations and with different societies having to do with the material development and welfare of the city. He belongs to the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association, which has honored him with the presidency, and in 1908 he was vice president of the Amateur Athletic Federation of Canada. He likewise belongs to the Canada Club and the Engineers Club, the Caledonia and St. Lawrence Curling Clubs, the Canadian Club and the Rangers, Fish and Game Club, and he figures prominently in the various athletic and similar organizations to which he belongs. His interest in affairs of general importance is indicated in the fact that he is a governor of the Montreal Homeopathic Hospital and a member of the Protestant board of school trustees at St. Henri, P. Q. The conservative party numbers him among its active workers and representatives, and in 1910 he was elected alderman of St. George’s ward of Montreal as a reform candidate, and in 1912 and 1914 was reelected by acclamation. In May, 1912, he ran in the St. Lawrence division as the conservative candidate for the provincial legislature but was defeated. The talents with which nature endowed him he has wisely used, not only for the benefit of himself but for the improvement of municipal and moral conditions and physical and mental development.

COLIN MCARTHUR.

It is a natural thing that when the sons of Great Britain desire to emigrate they turn toward one of the colonial possessions of the great British empire, and thus it is that a large percentage of Canada’s citizens have come from Scotland. Among the number was Colin McArthur, who was born in Glasgow in 1835, a son of James McArthur, a mason contractor of that city. He was educated in St. Enoch’s school of Glasgow and for sixteen years was associated with the firm of Wylie & Lockhead, wall paper manufacturers, acting as manager of their interests most of the time. While in their employ he frequently visited Canada and the United States in the interests of the house, and eventually taking up his permanent abode in Canada, embarked in business in Toronto. In 1879, however, he came to Montreal and entered into business with J. C. Watson in the manufacture of wall paper under the firm name of Watson & McArthur. This relation was maintained uninterruptedly until 1884, when Mr. McArthur withdrew from the firm and established the present business, that of Colin McArthur & Company, wall paper manufacturers. In the early days skilled labor had to be brought from the States, but in time men of this country were trained for the work and with the introduction of improved machinery the business developed rapidly. The trade grew enormously and Mr. McArthur was not only one of the pioneers in his line but controlled one of the most extensive and successful enterprises of that character. He thoroughly understood every phase of the business and, watchful of details pointing to success, his capable control was manifest in the excellent results which rewarded him.

Mr. McArthur was first married to Margaret Jamieson, of Largs, Scotland, and had two children. David married Rose Wilkinson and died in 1902, leaving a widow and three children, Colin, David and Margaret. Margaret, the daughter, is now living in Montreal. Mr. McArthur married in England, in 1869, Miss Annie Williamson, who survives him and resides in Montreal.

Mr. McArthur was an active factor in public interests as well as in business circles. He joined the Board of Trade in 1888, and he was much interested in public institutions and in plans for the general welfare. He was a life member of the General Hospital and was a member of the Caledonia and St. Andrew’s Societies. He also was a life member of the Protestant Insane Hospital and took an active interest in the founding of that institution. A Presbyterian in religious faith, his many good deeds had their inception in his Christian belief. He did much for charity and in fact was continually assisting others, yet all in a most unostentatious manner. He never spoke of his benevolent acts and shrank from all publicity of that character, yet there are many who have reason to bless his memory for aid rendered in an hour of need.

GEORGE EDWARD DESBARATS.

The late George Edward Desbarats was head of the well known printing firm of Desbarats & Company of Montreal, which, for many years has set the standard for all that is progressive in this field of business activity. He was a representative of a family that through many generations has been closely connected with the printing business, successive generations being in the vanguard of those who have been most active in bringing about the advancement and improvement in connection with the art preservative of arts. The History of Printing and Bookbinding in the State of Bearne gives account of Pierre Desbarats, bookseller from 1638, who established in 1651 the first printing office to have more than a transient existence in the state of Bearne; while Jean Desbarats, 1656 to 1687, was named printer to the Royal College of Bearne in 1662, printer to the Jesuit College at Pau in 1663 and printer to the King and the Royal College in 1680. Jean Desbarats, 1687 to 1714, was appointed King’s printer and printer to the Royal College in 1687. Isaac Desbarats, 1714 to 1737, was printer to the States of the Province of Bearne and on the 24th of December, 1719, was officially appointed to succeed Jean Desbarats as King’s printer. Parliamentary decree of April 27, 1730, admitted him to the ranks of the nobility as “Isaac Desbarats, King’s Printer, Seigneur de Labarthe Buisson.” Isaac Charles Desbarats, 1737-1787, was made printer to the King and to the States of the Kingdom of Navarre, September 20, 1737. He succeeded to the rank of Seigneur de Labarthe Buisson and was “Avocat au Parlement.” The printing establishment was inherited by Jeanne Desbarats but the government would not allow a woman to carry on the printing business and it had to be sold. The above indicates the close connection of the family with the printing business in France from 1638 to 1787. The family name has figured with equal prominence in Canada. Pierre Edouard Desbarats was named King’s printer January 27, 1800, and so continued until his death in 1828. His son, Georges Pascal Desbarats, father of George E. Desbarats of this review, succeeded his father and in 1844 was named Queen’s printer.

The family had been founded in Canada by Joseph Desbarats, who came to this country in 1756 and in 1761 married Marie Louise Crête at Beauport. He died in 1810. Their son, Pierre Edouard Desbarats, was married in September, 1798, to Josephte Voyer and at the time of his death, in 1828, was not only printer of His Majesty’s laws, but was also assistant clerk of the house, lieutenant colonel and justice of the peace. His son, Georges Pascal Desbarats, married Henriette Dionne, daughter of Hon. Amable Dionne. She died in 1839, while G. P. Desbarats passed away in 1864. He had succeeded his father in business and in 1844 was named Queen’s printer, in which connection he removed with the Government to Kingston, Toronto and Quebec as the government was successively established in those cities. He was also lieutenant colonel of militia.

George Edward Desbarats was born at Quebec, April 5, 1838, and in the attainment of his education attended Holy Cross College at Worcester, Massachusetts, from 1846 to 1851; St. Mary’s College at Montreal from 1852 until 1855 and Laval University at Quebec from 1855 until 1857. He won the degrees of Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws and thoroughly qualified for the bar. He studied with the Hon. Jean Thomas Taschereau in 1857 and with the law firm of Bethune & Dunkin in Montreal. He was received at the bar of Lower Canada in 1859 and was offered a partnership in the firm of Laflamme & Laflamme but declined in order to enter his father’s printing office, in which connection he remained in Quebec until 1865, when he went to Ottawa which had been made the new seat of government. In Quebec he published several volumes of original French-Canadian literature, among which were: Le Foyer Canadien in three volumes, eleven hundred and thirty-six pages; La Littérature Canadienne, in two volumes, seven hundred and eighty pages; Essais Poétiques, Lemay, in one volume, three hundred and twenty pages; Les Anciens Canadiens, P. A. de Gaspe, in one volume, four hundred and twelve pages; Mémoires de M. de Gaspe in one volume, five hundred and sixty pages; Canadians of Old (English) in one volume, three hundred and thirty pages; Mère Marie de l’Incarnation, L’Abbé H. R. Casgrain, in one volume, four hundred and sixty pages; Vies des Saints, Abbé Casgrain, in one volume, seven hundred and fifty pages; Lives of the Saints (English) in one volume, seven hundred and fifty pages; Chansons Populaires du Canada, Ernest Gagnon, in one volume, three hundred and seventy-five pages; Contes Populaires, Paul Stevens, in one volume, two hundred and sixty-five pages; Traité d’Art & d’Histoire Militaire, L. T. Sugor, in one volume, four hundred and seventy-two pages; Instructions Chrétiennes pour les Jeunes Gens, in one volume, three hundred and twenty pages; and Le Protestantisme, Etc., Abbé Guillaume, five hundred and fifty pages.

On removing to Ottawa in 1865 Mr. Desbarats occupied a building erected for this purpose which was begun during his father’s lifetime and belonged to the estate. Malcolm Cameron, who had been Queen’s printer with the father of George Edward Desbarats after the death of Stewart Derbishire, held the patent alone from 1864 to 1869 and was G. E. Desbarats’ partner in the printing business. The building erected there in Ottawa was one of the largest business blocks of the city at that time. It was in this building that the Hon. Thomas D’Arcy McGee lodged in company with Sir Hector Langevin and others on the occasion of his atrocious assassination and it was upon the place where the murder occurred that Mr. Desbarats caused to be erected a memorial tablet. This, it has been supposed gave offence to a certain lawless element in the population, resulting in the destruction of the noble pile of buildings by the incendiary’s torch. After the destruction of the building by fire on the 21st of January, 1869, it was not rebuilt. The Cartier-Macdonald government was then in power and gave out the Gazette, laws, etc., to public competition. G. E. Desbarats was appointed Queen’s printer and charged with making the schedules, getting the tenders and adjudging the contracts. He held the office for about a year and then resigned to remove to Montreal, where he had large interests in a lithographic and photo-engraving business which he had established there in connection with the Leggo Brothers. The fire of January 21, 1869, destroyed the complete first edition of Les Oeuvres de Champlain, which G. E. Desbarats was publishing at that time, the compiler and annotator being L’Abbé Laverdiere, librarian of Laval University. Not only was the manuscript destroyed but also the electrotype plates and illustrations. The only copy saved was that in proof sheets in Mr. Laverdiere’s hands. Mr. Desbarats determined to republish the work at once. The second edition was printed direct from the type, being limited to one thousand copies. The six volumes, which are quarto, contain some sixteen hundred and fifty pages and are copiously illustrated with facsimiles of the original charts, maps and cuts produced by the Leggotype process. This great work was published by G. E. Desbarats in 1870 and is considered the finest book issued so far from the Canadian Press. He was also the publisher, in Ottawa, of H. J. Morgan’s Bibliotheca Canadensis.

At the fire in Ottawa G. E. Desbarats’ net loss was over one hundred thousand dollars. The estate also lost heavily on the building, which was only partly insured. At a meeting of citizens an address of sympathy was voted to Mr. Desbarats and afterwards presented to him, handsomely engrossed, bearing the city seal, signed by the mayor and others and framed.

In 1869 G. E. Desbarats built a printing office on St. Antoine Street, Montreal, and there founded The Canadian Illustrated News, the first number of which was issued on October 30, of that year, with Alexander Robertson as the first editor and E. Jump as chief artist. The illustrations were at first photo-electrotypes produced by the Leggotype process. In 1870 Mr. Desbarats founded a French companion paper to the Canadian Illustrated News called L’Opinion Publique, a twelve-page paper, the illustrations in which were for the most part the same as those in the English weekly. The editors were J. A. Mousseau and L. O. David. Among the contributors to its pages were P. J. O. Chauveau, L. H. Frechette, Joseph Marmette, J. A. Poisson, Benjamin Sulte, W. Gelinas, Joseph Tassé and many other distinguished French-Canadian writers. By arrangement with Ferdinand Gagnon, L’Opinion Publique absorbed L’Etendard National of Worcester, Massachusetts.

In May, 1871, Mr. Desbarats became proprietor of a weekly literary paper named The Hearthstone. The editorial work of The Hearthstone was performed by J. A. Phillips. Mr. Desbarats owned and conducted The Dominion Telegraph Institute which had been started by Churchill, continuing this for two years, during which time were sent out many capable telegraph operators now at the head of their profession. In 1872 he organized the Graphic Company to publish a daily illustrated paper in the city of New York. This was the first illustrated daily ever published and it came to end in about a year, being too far ahead of its time and lacking the necessary capital. Still the field of his activity and usefulness constantly broadened, and at all times he was in the lead among those who have wrought for advancement and progress in connection with the printing and publishing business. In March, 1873, he founded The Canadian Patent Office Record and Mechanics Magazine, a quarto monthly of thirty-two pages devoted to engineering, manufacturing, mining and other industrial pursuits. With each number was issued the official patent office record, the whole amply illustrated, the two parts together forming a book of from sixty to eighty pages monthly, the subscription price to which was only a dollar and a half a year.

In 1873 it was thought advisable to form a stock company to carry on the Canadian publications and the general Montreal engraving and printing business. The Desbarats Lithographic & Publishing Company was therefore organized by G. E. Desbarats, W. P. Hussey, Luke Moore, William Angus, Jonathan Hodgson, Alexander Buntin and Daniel MacLellan as provincial directors; G. E. Desbarats and W. P. Hussey as managers. In April, 1874, Mr. Desbarats entered into negotiations with G. B. Burland with a view to amalgamating the two concerns and formed The Burland-Desbarats Lithographing Company, from which he retired in 1876. He then opened a small office in the old postoffice building and in 1878 moved to larger premises and laid the foundation of the present Desbarats Printing Company, one of the most important establishments of this character in the Dominion. In 1879 G. E. Desbarats joined with Notman & Sandham in organizing The Artotype Printing Company and went himself to New York to learn the artotype work.

In 1884 W. C. Smillie, founder and first president of The British American Bank Note Company entered into negotiations with G. E. Desbarats & Company to revive the Canada Bank Note Company which absorbed G. E. Desbarats & Company’s business and in which G. E. Desbarats and H. Drechsel were appointed managers. In 1887 Mr. Desbarats admitted his son, William, to a partnership and together they published the Dominion Illustrated, a weekly illustrated paper which also had to be discontinued for lack of capital. Half-tone engraving was then in its infancy and Mr. Desbarats was the first to introduce it into Canada. The process was largely used in the Dominion Illustrated and a photo-engraving plant was installed to meet the paper’s requirements. While all days were not equally bright in his career and indeed in his business experience he saw the gathering of clouds that threatened disastrous storms, yet his rich inheritance of energy, determination and initiative enabled him to turn defeat into victory and promised failures into brilliant successes. His strict integrity, business conservatism and judgment were always so universally recognized that he enjoyed public confidence to an enviable degree and naturally this brought him a lucrative patronage. In early manhood he showed conspicuously the traits of character that made his life brilliantly successful and his mental and physical activity, combined with thorough training, brought him to an eminent position as a representative of the printing and publishing business in Canada.

The business career of Mr. Desbarats with its steps of successive advancement has been given but what of the man and his personality? All who remember him speak of him as of the highest type of gentlemen, his kindly nature and courteous manner winning for him many warm friends. Even now, twenty years after his demise, his old employes mention him with the greatest respect and love. It has been said that there is no better way to judge an individual than by his treatment of those in his employ. Judged by this standard, no man has been more worthy of regard. While in Ottawa his employes presented him a silver goblet and tray as a mark of esteem. The employes of the Canadian Illustrated News presented him with two bronze statues and a necklace for Madame Desbarats and the employes of the Canada Bank Note Company presented him a water pitcher when he severed his connection with that company.

Aside from his extensive printing and engraving business Mr. Desbarats was deeply interested in all that pertained to the city’s welfare, and those things which are a matter of civic virtue and civic pride received his indorsement and cooperation. He took great interest in the Montreal Philharmonic Society of which he was one of the directors. He was captain in the Civil Service Rifle Regiment, of a company composed entirely of men in his employ. During the smallpox epidemic in Montreal in 1885 he was chairman of the citizens’ relief committee and took a leading part in the establishing of a temporary hospital at the exhibition grounds. His political allegiance was given to the conservative party but he took no active part in politics. In religious faith he was a Roman Catholic and in 1867 was president of the Société St. Jean Baptiste in Ottawa.

On the 30th of April, 1860, G. E. Desbarats was married to Miss Lucianne Bossé, eldest daughter of Joseph N. Bossé, advocate who was afterward senator and subsequently judge. Mr. and Mrs. Desbarats were married in Quebec and they became the parents of five sons and two daughters. George J., born January 27, 1861, and now deputy minister in the naval service, married Miss L. Scott, a daughter of Sir Richard Scott. William A., born February 14, 1862, is president of the Desbarats Printing Company, Limited. Edward S. C., born April 24, 1863, is president of the Desbarats Advertising Agency and married Miss M. A. MacCallum, daughter of Dr. D. C. MacCallum. Lucianne, born August 10, 1864, married Lord de Blaquière. Cecile is superior of the Convent of the Sacred Heart at New Orleans, Louisiana. Alexander died in childhood; and C. H. Hullett married Miss J. Henkels of Philadelphia. He is the secretary and treasurer of the Desbarats Printing Company. He and his brother, William, succeeded to the business upon their father’s death and it has since been organized into a joint stock company.

Such in brief is the life history of one who had much to do with shaping the development of the printing and engraving business in Canada. His was largely the initiative spirit that brought about improvement and advancement in methods of printing and of illustration. He ever maintained the highest standards, was quick to adopt any new methods which his judgment sanctioned as of value, and he largely set the standards that others have followed. His life continued one of increasing activity, usefulness and of public benefit to the time of his death which occurred in 1892.

ARTHUR WILLIAM PATRICK BUCHANAN.

In the practice of law devotion to the interests of his clients, careful preparation of his cases and comprehensive knowledge of the principles of jurisprudence are salient features which have gained Arthur William Patrick Buchanan a place among the well known representatives of the Montreal bar. He was born at Montreal in 1870, the son of Alexander Brock and Elizabeth Ann (Best) Buchanan and grandson of the late Alexander Buchanan, Q. C., a distinguished lawyer and in his day the leader of the Montreal bar, who married Mary Ann, the daughter of James Buchanan, H. B. M. consul at New York from 1816 to 1843. After attending the Montreal high school our subject entered McGill University and later pursued his law course in Laval University, where he took the degree of LL. B. in 1893. He was admitted to the bar of the province of Quebec in 1894 and the same year began practice as an advocate. He was created a king’s counsel in 1908 and practices in partnership with W. J. White, K. C. Their clientele is extensive and of a representative character, and Mr. Buchanan has proved himself a capable and careful lawyer. He is interested in genealogy and has written a history of his family, The Buchanan Book (1911).

In 1897 Mr. Buchanan married Berthe Louise, elder daughter of William Quirin, of Boston and resides at No. 731 Pine Avenue West. Mr. Buchanan is a life member of the Buchanan Society, a governor of the Montreal General Hospital and a member of the St. James Club, the Canada Club, the Montreal Hunt and the Royal Montreal Golf Club.

ANDREW ROBERTSON.

In many public positions Andrew Robertson gained wide acquaintance and the efficiency of his service in public behalf marked him as one of Montreal’s most valued and prominent men. In commercial circles he was well known as the founder and senior member of the firms of Andrew Robertson & Company and Robertson, Stephen & Company, wholesale dry-goods merchants, and later he became a factor in insurance and financial enterprises. This however represented but one phase of his life, as he became connected with many public projects having to do with the general development and improvement of the city, or with its charitable and benevolent activities. Abraham Lincoln said, “There is something better than making a living--making a life,” and it was that spirit which actuated Andrew Robertson at all times. He recognized his obligations to his fellowmen and again and again he played the part of the Good Samaritan, not from any unavoidable sense of duty but from a deep love for his fellows.