HON. LOUIS J. FORGETHON. LOUIS J. FORGET
HON. LOUIS J. FORGET
Senator Forget was elected president of the Montreal Stock Exchange in 1895 to succeed H. S. Macdougall and in May, 1896, was reelected. His business and financial connections had been constantly broadening and had long since included a prominent identification with the foremost financial and industrial projects of the time. In 1892 he became president of what was then the Montreal City Passenger Railway Company, now the Montreal Tramways Company. He remained its directing head until 1911, in which connection he accomplished what has meant much to Montreal. To no one man is the city indebted as largely for the upbuilding and development of its transportation system as to Senator Forget. Under his regime the motive power was changed from horses to electricity and the market value of the company’s stock advanced from around one hundred dollars to three hundred and thirty-seven dollars and a half per share.
In 1895 Senator Forget became president of the Richelieu & Ontario Navigation Company. At that time the affairs of the company were far from being on a dividend-paying basis and the rehabilitation of its interests was but another illustration of Senator Forget’s constructive genius. He resigned his position as head of the company in 1905, but in the meantime the stock was paying a six per cent dividend and the affairs of the company generally were in a better condition than ever before.
One of the great achievements of Senator Forget was in carrying through the merger of the Montreal Light, Heat & Power Company and in doing so he accomplished what many predicted to be utterly impossible, saying that nothing but failure and financial disaster could result. This was in 1900 before the days when big business interests were merged into mammoth enterprises and the amount involved, seventeen million dollars, seemed to stagger even the most progressive element in financial circles. Like all of his undertakings, Mr. Forget had not entered into this without due consideration and he had implicit confidencein its success. It is doubtful if any but he could have swung that deal and how well he succeeded is best indicated in the value of the securities of the company in investment circles.
He was a prominent figure in the notable contest which took place between the Dominion Coal Company and the Dominion Iron & Steel Company. Originally a director and vice president of the coal company he espoused the cause of the steel company in its fight over the coal supply and ultimately the matter was carried to the privy council and was there decided in favor of the steel company. Mr. Forget was elected vice president of the steel corporation when eventually the two companies were merged and he continued to take an active part in the administration of the affairs of the company to the time when his health began to fail. Evidence of his wonderful insight and sagacity in business matters is shown in the fact that when the trouble first arose from which resulted the extended litigation between the Dominion Iron & Steel Company and the Dominion Coal Company Senator Forget went over the point in contention in his characteristic deliberate manner and at once concluded that the claim of the steel corporation would be sustained by the courts, notwithstanding the contrary opinion of some of the greatest legal authorities and business men of the day and time proved that his judgment was correct.
He was the first French-Canadian to be elected to the directorate of the Canadian Pacific Railway and was a member of its board at the time of his death.His greatest enthusiasm was aroused while viewing the untold resources of the west during the many times he accompanied Sir Thomas Shaughnessy and R. B. Angus on their annual tours of inspection. When the life work of Senator Forget was ended the Montreal Daily Star said in part: “By the death of Senator Forget a man of affairs has been lost to Canada. A man of wide vision who saw far into the future and who modeled his career accordingly. A glance through the financial district at the half-masted flags at once conveys an idea of the number and the prominence of the institutions that Senator Forget had been interested in. Senator Forget stood out in Canadian finance, but more than that, he was a true Canadian citizen and had done his share towards the public weal, forgetting not his duty towards the state in the midst of tremendous private enterprises. He was a man of sympathies. At all times courteous and approachable, he could thrust aside great business matters to attend to the small wants of individuals, nor was he ever found wanting or indifferent when charity offered a plea.
“In finance Senator Forget was a true leader. He was one of the first men to loom large in high finance in Canada. He realized many possibilities which other men have realized too—but he followed that by action. He had the courage to follow his convictions and many solid institutions which today enjoy in themselves prosperity and largely aid in the advancement of the Dominion, owe to him debts which can never be repaid to the individual, though they will be to the people of the country. His financial ability brought him into prominence in connection with several of the largest corporations in the Dominion, prominent among which were the Montreal Street, the Richelieu & Ontario Navigation Company and the Montreal Light, Heat & Power Company, the Dominion Coal Company, and the Dominion Iron & Steel Company.
“Senator Forget was one of the colossal figures about whom have surged the tides and currents of Canadian finance. The news of his death this morning was as much of a shock as a surprise, both to those with whom he had been so long associated in connection with the organization and the management of the great financial and industrial enterprises of the Dominion and to the thousands of others to whom his name had come to be the shibboleth of success.
“But if Senator Forget represented one thing more than success it was absolute unswerving fidelity to his word. In all the heat and confusion of the stock market amidst the treacheries which sometimes attend on high financing and the deception and duplicity which beset the path of the successful man everywhere, there was never a question of his own unfaltering veracity. Senator Forget was wisely charitable, an intelligent patron of the arts, and a strong supporter of all movements which made for the better government of the city and the state. He will long be remembered for what he was as well as for what he did.”
Another Montreal paper said of him: “His rise to financial fame is written on the business history of Montreal, and the story of his success in the financial world is the history of the development of the city. Although Senator Forget’s estate will count up into the millions, its accumulation was not effected by continuous plain sailing.”
Obstacles and difficulties of grave import arose, but his financial capacity and strict integrity had won the confidence and trust of friends who rallied to his support, and although he saw the storm clouds gather, he was able to turn threatened disaster into brilliant achievement. His investments were most judiciously made and his judgment concerning important financial transactions seemed never at fault. Once his mind was made up as to the value of a security nothing could shake his confidence, and much of his success in life was due to his unerring judgment.
Slow to make a promise or express an opinion, Senator Forget never failed to fulfill a promise and when he gave his opinion it was the expression of his honest conviction and indicated a course which he would follow in a similar position. If he advised an investor it meant that he would not hesitate a moment in investing his own money in the same security. His unquestioned loyalty to his friends covered his entire business career. His recommendation of a security to an investor meant that he would fully support that security and there were instances in his career when even his vast resources were taxed in such support. This was true in connection with the Montreal Stock Exchange in a security where large sums were invested on his recommendation. The implicit confidence that capital had in his judgment enabled him to finance and successfully carry out projects that probably no other man of his time could have handled. His word was as good as his bond. His denial of a rumor killed it immediately just as an admission from him settled all doubt. He could see through a proposition readily and would decide important and extensive matters quickly. His decision was never hasty or ill advised but came as the result of the fact that he had mastered many grave business affairs and with readiness comprehended every phase of a situation that came before him. He was a man of strong personality. His was never the command of thetyrant to go but ever the call of the leader to come. He was never vacillating in his opinions of the best methods to be followed or the manner in which a given work was to be done. He was a most considerate and appreciative man and was always ready to encourage one who was striving upward. He was not a talkative man, that is he talked but comparatively little, yet he talked to the point and with great earnestness and thinking men listened to him with attention. He never laughed aloud, but his smile was one full of humor, enjoyment and good nature. Judging his manner by first appearance might do him an injustice, for a habit of earnest thought had brought a deep furrow in the forehead that might be regarded as a frown. An acquaintance, however, always received the most polite attention from him and his unfailing courtesy of manner showed him to be a perfect gentleman in the highest and best sense of the term.
His interest in benevolent and charitable projects was wide and his support thereof most generous. He became a director of the Notre Dame Hospital and was a governor of both the General Hospital and the Western Hospital. He was a governor of the Art Association and life governor of the Numismatic & Antiquarian Society; also president of the board of governors of Laval University. His political career is an interesting one, for he was not always a supporter of the liberal-conservative party. Although a fellow townsman of Sir Adolphe Chapleau, the Senator had been allied with Sir Henri Gustave Joly de Lotbinière in that leader’s contest with Chapleau, Angers and the rest of the conservative leaders of his time. In federal politics, however, Hon. Mr. Forget declined to follow the free trade policy of Mackenzie and Cartwright, which had been forced against his will upon Rodolphe Laflamme, and from the days of the national policy the Senator worked with the present conservative party. He was appointed to the upper house during the elections of 1896 and was the last conservative senator to enter that branch of the Canadian parliament. Senator Forget seldom addressed the senate, yet his advice in committee was of great value to his fellow members and it was here that the close friendship sprang up between Senator Forget and the ex-prime minister, Sir Mackenzie Bowell. The Senator was a loyal follower of R. L. Borden as leader of the conservative party, both in parliament and in the country. He realized that it was a very difficult matter for any leader to find complete favor in the eyes of all the provinces, but he was confident that Mr. Borden gave his services to the party and to the country in a patriotic manner and consequently deserved the support of a united party in both houses. The Montreal Gazette some years ago termed him “an astute and enterprising man of affairs.” He was more than that. He was a constructionist and builded where others saw no opportunity; he was a patriot without narrow partisanship; a Roman Catholic and stanch churchman without a particle of race prejudice, in evidence of which fact his closest friend in the senate of the Dominion was an ex-grand master of the Orange Grand Lodge of British North America—Sir Mackenzie Bowell. High honors had been accorded him, distinction and notable success had come to him. These things made him an eminent citizen, but, more than that, attractive social qualities and genuine personal worth had gained him the highest regard, confidence, good-will and friendship of his contemporaries and colleagues.
While Senator Forget was a member of a number of clubs, he manifested keenest interest perhaps in the Mount Royal Club, of which he was one of the founders. Among the other clubs to which he belonged were the St. James, of which he had been president; the Royal St. Lawrence Yacht Club; the Forest and Stream; the Montreal Hunt; the Country Club of Ottawa and the Manhattan Club of New York.
In May, 1876, Senator Forget married Miss Maria Raymond, a daughter of Gustav A. Raymond of Montreal. They were the parents of five children: Loulou, now Mrs. W. W. Skinner; Raymond, who died at the age of four years; Blanche, now Mrs. Guy Boyer; Marguerite; and Pauline. The two younger daughters accompanied their parents abroad and the family was sojourning at Nice when Senator Forget passed away, April 7, 1911.
Thorough preparatory training and broadening experience well qualify Charles M. Black for the important and responsible duties that devolve upon him as secretary and treasurer of the insurance brokerage firm of R. Howard & Company of Montreal. He has many friends in this city, to whom his life record will prove of interest. He was born in Winnipeg in 1890, a son of William Allan Black and a grandson of Charles R. and Elizabeth (Hall) Black, of Montreal. There is a mingled strain of English and Scotch blood in his veins. The birth of William A. Black occurred in Montreal, November 17, 1862. His education was acquired in the schools of his native city, and for some years he was in the service of the Grand Trunk and Canadian Pacific Railway Companies. In 1882 he went to Manitoba and the following year became connected with the Ogilvie Milling Company, one of the foremost enterprises of that character in the country. Gradually in that connection he worked his way upward and in 1902 was appointed general manager of the western division, while in 1910 he was elected one of the directors of the company. Still further promotion has come to him in his election as vice president and managing director of the Ogilvie Flour Mills Company. He is likewise a member of the Winnipeg Board of Trade, a councillor of the Winnipeg Grain and Produce Exchange and a member of the grain survey and grain standard boards. He is likewise a director of the Home Savings & Investment Company, Molson’s Bank and Larose Consolidated Mines and is managing director of the Kaministiquia Power Company and president of the Manitoba Cold Storage Company. He belongs to the Winnipeg and Manitoba Clubs. He was married in 1888 to Mary Campbell, daughter of Alexander McEwan, of Edinburgh, Scotland.
The illustrious example of his father has fired the ambition of Charles M. Black, who was reared in Montreal and Winnipeg. Making good use of time, talents and opportunities, he has steadily progressed and is today a well known factor in insurance brokerage circles of Montreal. The business of the firm of R. Howard & Company was established in 1901 and was organized under the present firm style on the 1st of February, 1913, when Charles M. Black became a member of the firm, of which he has since been secretary and treasurer, withRobert Howard as the president. He had received thorough initial business training in three years’ connection with his father, and he is also secretary and treasurer of the Financial Investment Company. A young man of determination and energy, he carries forward to successful completion whatever he undertakes, and obstacles and difficulties in his path serve but as an impetus for renewed effort on his part.
High on the list of Montreal’s worthy citizens who have passed from this life appears the name of John Pratt, who from 1839 until 1872 was one of the prosperous merchants of the city. He was born at Berthier, en haut, on the 20th of July, 1812, and after a well spent life of sixty-four years passed away July 22, 1876. He was survived for only a few weeks by his brother, Mr. C. F. Pratt, with whom he had commenced his business career and with whom he was almost continuously associated thereafter.
The father was a merchant at Berthier and in 1833 the sons, Charles F. and John, left the paternal home to establish a business house in Quebec under the firm name of C. F. Pratt & Company. Having succeeded almost beyond his expectations in that city, John Pratt opened a branch establishment at Three Rivers and, as in Quebec, won almost immediate prosperity in the conduct of the enterprise. Soon the brothers found that their sphere of action was too limited and in 1839 they extended the scope of their interests by founding the well known leather house of John Pratt & Company in Montreal.
In 1852 the Quebec house was closed, the brothers concentrating their energies upon the conduct of the Montreal business, out of which they made colossal fortunes, that of Mr. John Pratt amounting to about a million dollars. The tanneries at Roxton Falls were started by the Pratts, who for many years stood at the head of the leather business. In 1869, however, they put aside industrial and commercial interests, but while Charles Pratt confined himself to private affairs, his brother, John Pratt, whose name introduces this review, unable with his active temperament to remain comparatively unemployed, engaged in the conduct of several joint stock companies, with which he had identified himself. At the time of his death he was president of the Richelieu & Ontario Navigation Company, over whose board he had presided since 1867. He was president of the Banque du Peuple, of the Rubber Company, and others; and was vice president of the Citizens Assurance Company, a position which he also occupied in connection with other joint stock concerns. He was on the board of directors of the Valleyfield Cotton Company, an enterprise which he had done much to promote. Indeed, it may be said of Mr. Pratt that he was an undoubted authority on all business matters, being sagacious, practical, enterprising and energetic. He seemed to recognize almost from the beginning the possibilities of any undertaking, and he never faltered until his purpose was accomplished.
In 1863 Mr. Pratt was placed on the harbor board, but the succeeding year the government of Sir John Macdonald removed him from office, doing exactly the same by Hon. John Young and Mr. Thomas Cramp. In 1874, however, he was placed upon the newly constituted board, of which he was an active, practicaland influential member. His natural modesty impelled him, upon several occasions, to decline nomination for parliament, to which, there is no doubt, had he so desired, he would have been elected. Politically he was a thorough reformer and even by those who differed from him, his opinions were looked upon with great respect. He was at all times a thorough gentleman, a faithful and considerate friend and a real philanthropist.
JOHN PRATTJOHN PRATT
JOHN PRATT
On the 3d of March, 1840, Mr. Pratt married Marie Mathilde Roy, the widow of Charles Ovide Perrault, who was killed in the rebellion of 1837. Mrs. Pratt died July 29, 1897. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Pratt were: Marie Mathilde, who was married in 1862 to Desire Girouard; Charles Alfred, a practicing physician, who in 1866 married Alphonsine Leclair and resides at Longueuil; Eveline Marie Louise, the wife of Joseph Gustave Laviolette, of Montreal; Virginia, who was married September 30, 1878, to George H. Matthews; Aloysia, who was married June 17, 1878, to Percy Franklin Woodcock, the well known artist; Frederick Emile George, who was married May 31, 1883, to Albina Thibault, the widow of his younger brother; and Louis Edouard Albert, who married Albina Thibault and died August 11, 1880.
On the 27th of July, 1876, the body of Mr. John Pratt was taken from the family residence, No. 310 Lagauchetiere Street to the church of St. Jacques, St. Denis Street, and thence to the family vault in the Roman Catholic cemetery. The attendance at the church was immense, comprising all the influential and representative citizens, both French and English, of Montreal. At the church the burial service was celebrated by Rev. A. L. Sentenne, curé of the parish, assisted by Rev. Father Fleck, superior of the Jesuits.
Perhaps no better indication of Mr. Pratt’s high standing could be given than by quoting a letter received by Mrs. John Pratt, reading:
“Dear Madam:“We, the harbor commissioners of Montreal, take the liberty of intruding upon you to express our sympathy and condolence to you and your family in the irretrievable loss sustained by the death of your late husband, our friend and colleague in the harbor trust. Our late friend rendered such efficient service in the management of this important trust and was so fully in sympathy with every movement for the good of his country and this city in which he lived, as to secure the esteem and confidence of every member of the commission. At such a time we are aware that nothing can be said to assuage the natural grief of yourself and family, still we hope, Dear Madam, it will prove consolatory to you and yours, that your husband, our friend, has filled up his season of life with so many good deeds and in so exemplary a manner, and that although he has now gone from among us, he will be remembered by all who knew him. This we trust will be to you and your family a source of comfort and help you to bear with fortitude and resignation your present great affliction.“Thomas Cramp,“Hugh McLennan,“Andrew Allan,“Charles H. Gould,“John Young,“Adolphe Roy,“P. Donovan.“Harbor commissioners’ office, Montreal, July 28, 1876.”
“Dear Madam:
“We, the harbor commissioners of Montreal, take the liberty of intruding upon you to express our sympathy and condolence to you and your family in the irretrievable loss sustained by the death of your late husband, our friend and colleague in the harbor trust. Our late friend rendered such efficient service in the management of this important trust and was so fully in sympathy with every movement for the good of his country and this city in which he lived, as to secure the esteem and confidence of every member of the commission. At such a time we are aware that nothing can be said to assuage the natural grief of yourself and family, still we hope, Dear Madam, it will prove consolatory to you and yours, that your husband, our friend, has filled up his season of life with so many good deeds and in so exemplary a manner, and that although he has now gone from among us, he will be remembered by all who knew him. This we trust will be to you and your family a source of comfort and help you to bear with fortitude and resignation your present great affliction.
“Thomas Cramp,“Hugh McLennan,“Andrew Allan,“Charles H. Gould,“John Young,“Adolphe Roy,“P. Donovan.
“Harbor commissioners’ office, Montreal, July 28, 1876.”
The board of directors of the Richelieu & Ontario Navigation Company, at its meeting on Friday, the 28th of July, 1876, passed unanimously the following resolution:
“Resolved: That this board of directors have received with much regret intelligence of the death of the late president of the company, Mr. John Pratt, whose long and valuable services in its behalf secured for him the gratitude, not only of the directors, but of every shareholder in the company. The directors desire to offer to his family the deep sympathy of every member of the board in the loss they have sustained, and to assure them of the high esteem in which the late Mr. Pratt was universally held.“Hugh Allan, president.“J. N. Beaudry, secretary.“Thomas Caverhill.“Andrew Allan.“William McNaughton.“Adolphe Roy.“D. Masson.“M. H. Gault.“Robert Anderson.”
“Resolved: That this board of directors have received with much regret intelligence of the death of the late president of the company, Mr. John Pratt, whose long and valuable services in its behalf secured for him the gratitude, not only of the directors, but of every shareholder in the company. The directors desire to offer to his family the deep sympathy of every member of the board in the loss they have sustained, and to assure them of the high esteem in which the late Mr. Pratt was universally held.
“Hugh Allan, president.“J. N. Beaudry, secretary.“Thomas Caverhill.“Andrew Allan.“William McNaughton.“Adolphe Roy.“D. Masson.“M. H. Gault.“Robert Anderson.”
One of the most prominent members of the provincial bar was T. W. Ritchie, who specialized in the practice of commercial law in Montreal and represented many important corporations in his professional connection. A native of Hatley, Quebec, he was born in 1828. After careful preparation for active law practice he was called to the bar in 1852 and opened an office in Sherbrooke. In 1860 he removed to Montreal and became a member of the firm of Rose, Monk & Ritchie. It was in 1867 that he was appointed queen’s counsel. No dreary novitiate awaited him at the outset of his professional career. He brought to its starting point several rare gifts, strong individuality, marked strength of character and high professional ideals, in addition to comprehensive knowledge of the principles of law and ability to correctly apply these. He continued in active practice as a member of the firm of Rose, Monk & Ritchie until Mr. Monk was appointed to the bench. The partnership relation under the firm style of Rose & Ritchie then continued until Sir John Rose left Canada for England. Mr. Ritchie was then joined by J. L. Morris and W. Rose, but the latter left soon afterward and later Mr. Morris retired. Mr. Ritchie then took in as partner Mr. G. H. Borlase, who remained with him until 1879, when he retired. Mr. Ritchie then admitted his son W. F. Ritchie to a partnership under the firm style of Ritchie & Ritchie. The father was one of the most prominent members of the bar of the province, ranking high as an advocate in the department of commercial law and sustaining many important professional relations. At the time of his death, on the 4th of September, 1882, he was solicitor to the Bank of Montreal and the Hudson’s Bay Company and was bothdirector and solicitor to the Montreal, Portland & Boston Railway. For many years he acted as crown prosecutor for the district of Montreal. The court records attest his high standing and his ability whereby he engraved his name high on the keystone of the legal arch. It is the theory of the law that the counsels who practice are to aid the court in the administration of justice, and perhaps no representative of the Montreal bar has been more careful to conform his practice to a high standard of professional ethics than did T. W. Ritchie.
One of the well known members of the medical profession in Montreal, Dr. Albert George Nicholls has made continual progress, and in the field of scientific attainment and research is recognized as one of the most eminent in the profession in the city. His investigations, carried far and wide, have brought forth many valuable truths, and his contributions to medical literature are largely accepted as standard.
Dr. Nicholls was born at Shotley Bridge, Durham, England, April 16, 1870, a son of the late Rev. John Nicholls and Mary Elizabeth (Harland) Nicholls. The father was the well known pastor of St. Mark’s Presbyterian church in Montreal for twenty-two years. In England he became identified with the Methodist clergy and was given charge of churches at Shotley Bridge, Durham; Chester-le-Street, Hetton and Blyth, Northumberland. He was born at Willenhall, Staffordshire, England, in 1840, and had reached the age of fifty-eight years when he passed away in Montreal on the 4th of May, 1898. He had been a resident of Canada for almost a quarter of a century, having arrived in this country in 1874. It was after he came to the new world that he connected himself with the Presbyterian church and for twenty-two years remained pastor of St. Mark’s. The names of few are so closely interwoven with the history of moral progress in this city. For some years he was a member of the Protestant Ministerial Association, was editor of the Bible Reporter, and was a frequent contributor to the press upon questions relative to the work of the church and the extension of Christian influence. At the time of the smallpox epidemic in Montreal he served on various committees formed to relieve the situation and opened his church for the distribution of relief. He was also one of the originators of the Fresh Air Fund and while thoroughly versed upon dogmas and the principles of theology, his religion was ever of that practical character which found expression in good deeds, in ready sympathy, and in immediate helpfulness. The survivors of his family are Mrs. Nicholls; Dr. Albert George Nicholls, whose name introduces this review; and a daughter, Miss Amy Nicholls, B. A.
Education received high rating in the Nicholls home and the son was afforded excellent opportunities for acquiring knowledge that would fit him for any field of labor to which he might choose to devote his efforts. He attended McGill Model School, the Montreal high school and afterward entered McGill University, where he won the Bachelor of Arts degree and became gold medallist in classics in 1890. Three years later his alma mater conferred upon him the Masterof Arts degree and in preparation for the medical profession he pursued a course of study in McGill, which won him the M. D. and C. M. degrees in 1894. In 1909 the Doctor of Science degree was conferred upon him and in 1908 the honor of F. R. S. C. Holding to the highest professional standards and wishing to reach the highest possible point of proficiency, Dr. Nicholls has gone abroad for study, doing post-graduate work at Erlangen, Prague and Vienna. A successful practitioner in Montreal, he has devoted much time to original research, more especially in the scientific side of medicine. He is perhaps best known for his work in connection with typhoid fever, Brights disease, tuberculosis and some of the more obscure phases of chronic inflammation and his views have been referred to in several of the more recent authoritative text-books. He is the author of more than forty monographs and other publications on medical subjects, and his writings have largely been accepted as standard by the profession in this section of the country. He was joint author with Professor Adami of The Principles of Pathology, a work of recognized value. He is equally well known as a lecturer on clinical medicine and assistant professor of pathology and bacteriology in McGill University. He is out-patient physician to the Montreal General Hospital and assistant physician and pathologist to the Western General Hospital.
In May, 1907, Dr. Nicholls was married to Miss Lucia Pomeroy, the youngest daughter of the late William H. Van Vliet of Lacolle, P. Q., and they have three sons, George Van Vliet, John Van Vliet and Robert Van Vliet. Dr. Nicholls is a conservative and an ardent imperialist. His religious affiliation is with the Presbyterian church, and he is a member of the University Club, Montreal, and the Authors’ Club, London.
Those life forces which work for betterment, for progress and improvement elicit his attention and receive his support, and he is today recognized as a man of splendidly developed talents and well balanced powers, so that he has become a forceful factor in the world’s work.
Success in business resulting entirely from capable management, keen discrimination and unfaltering enterprise came to Captain George Hillyard Matthews, who for many years was president of the Sincennes-McNaughton Line. His birth occurred in Montreal on the 14th of August, 1846, and he passed away at the comparatively early age of fifty-seven years, dying on the 19th of January, 1904. He was a son of George Matthews, of Mount Victoria, Hudson and Montreal. The father came to Canada from Essex, England, as a young man and in this country married a Miss Hudson, also a native of England. They became the parents of six children, including Captain Matthews, who received his military education at Sandhurst, England, in 1871. The following year he entered the army and served for a period of eight years, when he resigned. He was an honorary member of the officers’ mess of the Third Victoria Rifles and also honorary president of the Army and Navy Veterans Association. He never ceased to feel a deep interest in military affairs andbelieved in the maintenance of a high standard of service in connection with the army and navy.
CAPTAIN GEORGE H. MATTHEWSCAPTAIN GEORGE H. MATTHEWS
CAPTAIN GEORGE H. MATTHEWS
Captain Matthews’ business affairs also brought him prominently before the public. For many years he was president of the Sincennes-McNaughton Line and during his term of office the major portion of the harbor fleet of tugs was built under his supervision. As opportunity offered he made judicious investments in real estate and became the owner of a large amount of property in Montreal. Following the death of Baron de Longueuil, he took charge of his estate, which he wisely managed.
In 1878 Captain Matthews was united in marriage to Miss Virginia Pratt, a daughter of John Pratt, one of the early settlers of Montreal. He held membership in the St. James Club and he was interested in various significant and vital questions of the day, especially in fish and game protection. He also took an active interest in politics. He was acquainted with all of the different phases of public life having to do with the prosperity and progress of his city and province, and his aid and cooperation could always be counted upon to further movements for the general good.
One of the best known insurance and financial men of Montreal was the late David Burke, who passed away on December 5, 1913. He was born in Charlottetown, P. E. I., in 1850, being the youngest son of Edward and Mary (Acorn) Burke, both of whom were natives of Prince Edward Island. He received his early education in the schools of that province. In early manhood he turned his attention to the insurance business, being but sixteen years of age when he entered upon the field of labor in which he was to attain to importance, making his name one well known in insurance circles not only in Canada but also in the United States. In 1869 he came to Montreal, where he was associated in business with his brother, the late Walter Burke, then general manager for Canada of the New York Life Insurance Company. On the death of the latter in 1879 the company retired from Canada owing to differences with the insurance department at Ottawa. In 1883, being willing to conform to the regulations set down by this department, the company reentered Canada, and Mr. David Burke was appointed general manager. In 1897 he retired from his connection with this firm to organize an insurance company of his own, the Royal Victoria Life Insurance Company, which was absorbed by the Sun Life in 1911. He thus bent his energies to administrative direction and executive control and his opinions were largely accepted as authority upon matters connected with the complex problems of insurance and the control of the business. In 1882 he was elected an associate of the British Institute of Actuaries, being one of its oldest members, and in 1897 was made a fellow of the Royal Statistical Society of Great Britain. In 1904 he was honored with election to the vice presidency of the Economic and Statistical Society of Montreal and in 1906 was chosen president of the Canadian Life Insurance Officers Association. For two years he held the presidency of the Life Managers Association of Canada, a body formed solely of the executiveheads of insurance companies in Canada, each company being represented in the association by only one member. He studied every phase of the insurance business with a thoroughness that made his opinions standard, and he was the author of a valuable paper published in 1908 entitled “Insurance as a National Economy.” The Montreal Witness spoke of him as one “recognized as a most capable insurance administrator,” and his contemporaries and colleagues speak of his business ability and resourcefulness in terms of high admiration.
Mr. Burke was married in 1875 to Miss Rose Maclear, the youngest daughter of the late Thomas Maclear, founder of the Maclear Publishing Company of Toronto, and they were parents of four sons and two daughters, as follows: Edmund A., the noted vocalist; Louis, of New York; Alan, of Boston; Maurice N., of Montreal; Mrs. Fred C. Budden, of Montreal; and Miss Marjorie Burke, of Montreal.
Mr. Burke was a member of the St. James Club and in religious faith an Anglican, while his political belief placed him in the position of an imperial protectionist. His views of life were those of a broad-minded man who delved deep into the questions of vital importance and who proved himself the master of those forces which made up his life’s experience.
Dr. James John Edmund Guerin, medical practitioner and educator, and an influential figure in the political history of the province, having served with distinction as a member of the Marchand and Parent cabinets and later as mayor of Montreal, was born July 4, 1856, in the city which is still his place of residence, a son of the late Thomas Guerin, C. E., chief hydraulic engineer of the department of public works, Ottawa, and a brother of the Hon. Edmund Guerin, one of the judges of the superior court, Montreal. Dr. Guerin made his studies at the Montreal College, and later entered McGill University for the purpose of pursuing a course in medicine. He was graduated M. D., C. M. in 1878, and has since engaged in active practice in his native city where he has also done important hospital work. He is the president of the medical board of the Hôtel-Dieu Hospital and one of the governors of the Notre Dame Hospital; in educational circles he is well known as professor of clinical medicine in Laval University. He holds to the highest professional standards of ethics and enjoys the warmest regard of fellow practitioners. He is a director of the Royal Edward Institute and a governor of the Victorian Order of Nurses, and in 1909 he was appointed a member of the royal commission to prevent the further spread of tuberculosis.
Capable and prominent as is Dr. Guerin in his chosen profession,he has also become equally widely known in connection with political activity and has done much important work. In 1895 he was elected president of the St. Patrick’s Societyand was reelected in 1896 and 1897. In the former year he was a delegate to the Irish National Convention at Dublin. In October, 1895, he was returned to the legislature for Montreal in the liberal interests by a majority of twelve hundred and fifty-four. In 1897 he was reelected in the general election and was called to the Marchand cabinet without portfolio on the 25th of May of that year. Hewas a minister without portfolio in the Marchand and Parent administrations from 1897 to 1904, and in 1901 was appointed member of the council of public instruction of the province of Quebec. His opinions carried weight in provincial councils and a discussion of any vital question with him at once indicated how widely and thoroughly he was informed concerning the points at issue. In February, 1910, as the candidate of the citizens’ party, he was elected mayor of Montreal by a majority of twelve thousand nine hundred and eighty-three and in his administration sought at all times to further the best interests of the city. He conducted its civic affairs along economical lines and yet never fettered municipal progress by a narrow conservatism. He represented the city of Montreal at the funeral of King Edward in London in 1910 and at the coronation of King George and Queen Mary in 1911. In 1911 he was created a Knight Commander of the Order of St. Gregory the Great, and in 1912 he received the degree of LL. D. from Trinity College, Dublin.
In 1883 Dr. Guerin was married to Miss Mary Carroll O’Brien, daughter of the late Hon. James O’Brien; she died in 1886. Dr. Guerin resides at No. 4 Edgehill Avenue. His religious faith is that of the Roman Catholic church. Aside from serving as president of St. Patrick’s Society he has been president of the Shamrock Lacrosse Club and of many other organizations. He is a member of the Mount Royal Club, the University Club and the Montreal Jockey Club. His activity along various important lines indicates his worth and value as a citizen, and his indorsement at the polls testifies to the confidence reposed in him by his fellow citizens. His ideals of citizenship are high, while in his professional career he manifests the keenest appreciation for the responsibilities and obligations which devolve upon him.
Andrew Stuart Ewing, for almost half a century one of the best known business men of Montreal, was born in 1838 at Lisdillon House, Londonderry, Ireland, and was a representative of an old family of Irish origin, his parents being Samuel and Margaret (Hamilton) Ewing, who crossed the Atlantic to Canada with their family when their son, Andrew, was seven years of age. He was educated in the public schools of Montreal and in 1860 entered into partnership with his brother, Samuel H. Ewing, in the ownership and management of the extensive coffee and spice mills formerly owned by his father, who founded the business in 1845. In 1860 the firm style of Samuel Ewing & Sons was assumed and in 1892, after the retirement of Samuel H. Ewing, Andrew S. Ewing became sole proprietor of the business which was conducted at No. 55 Cote Street. The enterprise was one of extensive proportions and yielded a substantial profit as a result of careful management and wise direction.
During the last fifteen years of his life Mr. Ewing was a prominent member of the Montreal Board of Trade and was interested in its various projects for promoting the material progress of the city and advancing affairs of municipal and civic interest. In politics he was a conservative and a strong supporter of the national policy.
Mr. Ewing died at his home in Montreal, January 8, 1902, and was survived by his widow until June, 1913. The surviving children are Andrew Stuart and Royal L. H. Ewing and two daughters, Mrs. Robert Starke and Miss Adelaide Ewing. The sons are members of the firm of Ewing & Ewing, real estate and insurance, which was established in September, 1906, by the brothers in connection with A. F. Gault, but the last named retired from the firm May 1, 1912. A. Stuart Ewing is a member of the Art Association of Montreal, the Canadian Club, the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association, the Royal St. Lawrence Yacht Club, the St. James Club, the Manitou Club and the Park Toboganning Club, of which he is vice president.
Mr. Royal L. H. Ewing is a member of the Art Association of Montreal, the Montreal and Canadian Clubs, the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association, the Mount Royal Lawn Tennis Club, the Royal St. Lawrence Yacht Club, the St. James Club, the Manitou Club and the Park Toboganning Club. The sons are worthy successors to their father, not only in business activity but also in that business integrity for which the family name has always stood.
Dr. Frank Richardson England, an alumnus of Bishop’s College of Montreal and now well known as a practical educator as well as a successful practitioner, was born August 21, 1862, at Cowansville, province of Quebec, and is the eldest son of Francis and Jane (Ruiter) England, of Dunham, Quebec. The family comes of United Empire Loyalist stock and the parents are now deceased.
While Dr. England acquired his early education at Waterloo, he pursued his medical course at Bishop’s College in Montreal, from which he was graduated with the class of 1885, the degrees of M. D. and C. M. being then conferred upon him, and obtaining the Wood and Nelson gold medals. He was professor of diseases of children at Bishop’s College in 1887 and professor of surgery in the same institution in 1894. In 1905 he was graduated at McGill College (ad eund). The profession has honored him with official distinction, for in 1906 he was chosen president of the Montreal Medico-Chirurgical Society and the following year was vice president of the Canadian Medical Association. He is a governor and fellow of the American College of Surgeons. He is now, 1914, surgeon of the Western Hospital at Montreal and in his surgical practice displays comprehensive knowledge of anatomy, of the component parts of the human body and of the onslaughts made upon it by disease or left to it as a legacy by progenitors. He is cool and collected at critical moments and combines strength with tenderness, seeking ever the ultimate good of patient and of profession.
Dr. England was married twice. In 1887 he wedded Carrie Ann, youngest daughter of the late R. L. Galer, of Dunham. Following her death Dr. England married Octavia Grace Ritchie, B. A., M. D., of Montreal, the youngest daughter of the late Thomas W. Ritchie, Q. C. She was born in Montreal and became a student in McGill University, winning the degree of Bachelor of Arts, together with first class honors in natural science in 1883. She was afterward graduated from Bishop’s College, Lennoxville, Quebec, with the degree of M. D. and C. M.in 1891. She was one of the first class of ladies to graduate from McGill and the first woman to receive a medical degree in the province of Quebec. Mrs. England took a scholarship at Kingston and later pursued a post-graduate course at Vienna, Austria. She has done much to arouse public feeling in favor of the medical education of women in Quebec and was secretary of the organization called the Donalda Students to procure this concession. She is now a governor of the Western Hospital and was assistant gynecologist there from 1894 until 1896. She has lectured on medical subjects before the Women’s Club and the Young Women’s Christian Association. She is a member of the Montreal Medico-Chirurgical Society and was a delegate to the Quinquennial Congress of the National Council of Women at Toronto in 1909. She is president of the local council of the National Council of Women. In 1897 she became the wife of Dr. Frank Richardson England of Montreal. Both continue actively in the practice of the profession, and each has a large clientage, indicating the prominence to which they have attained.
William John White, whose authorship no less than his practice has gained him eminence and success, is regarded as one of the foremost representatives of the Montreal bar. Contemporaneous writers pronounce upon him high encomiums for his contributions to legal as well as to general literature. A native of Peterboro, Ontario, he was born January 29, 1861, a son of the late Richard White, D. C. L., and Jean (Riddel) White. After completing his studies in the Montreal high school he entered McGill University, where he pursued a classical and legal course, winning the B. A. degree in 1881, the degree of Bachelor of Civil Law in 1882, while in 1885 the Master of Arts degree was conferred upon him and in 1902 that of Doctor of Civil Law. He completed his legal studies at the Sorbonne in Paris and in 1883 entered upon the active work of the profession as an advocate. He has since successfully practiced and was created king’s counsel in 1899. He is now senior partner of the law firm of White & Buchanan and is recognized as one of the leaders of the Montreal bar. In 1901 he was made batonnier. His law practice has been of an important as well as of an extensive character. He was retained as counsel by the Mexican government in the boundary dispute between the United States and Mexico in 1911. His high standing in his profession and his thorough understanding of vital and significant governmental problems have brought him into prominence in various international affairs. He served as a member of the board of investigation appointed by the minister of labor in the United Shoe Machinery case, and his opinions have been sought on various questions of far-reaching importance. He represented the Montreal bar at the annual meeting of the New York State Bar Association at Albany in 1902 and at the Illinois State Bar Association in 1906, and on the latter occasion read a paper on The Law of Quebec. He is the author of a treatise on Canadian Company Law which was published in 1901.
Aside from his profession Mr. White has been connected with several business enterprises and public projects of importance. In 1911 he became one of thedirectors of the Sherwin-Williams Company of Canada, and from 1906 to 1908 he served as alderman of the city. He is a director and was elected the vice president of the new Technical School of Montreal. He was one of the founders of the Society of Historical Studies and was chosen to the presidency of that organization for 1891-2. He was likewise one of the organizers of the Society of Canadian Literature and of the Canadian branch of the American Folk Lore Society. From 1889 until 1891 he published a monthly magazine known as Canadiana and Dr. John Reade termed him “A writer of taste and force,” while the Montreal Witness spoke of him as “A thoroughly capable man.” Mr. White belongs to a number of the leading clubs, including the St. James, University, Outremont Golf and the Montreal Jockey Clubs of Montreal; the Rideau Club of Ottawa; the Quebec Garrison Club; and the Constitutional Club of London, England. It is in his law practice, however, that he has won the recognition that has placed him in the present enviable position which he occupies. He has ever in his practice been faithful to his clients, fair to his adversaries and candid to the court. In many cases with which he has been connected he has exhibited the possession of every faculty of which a lawyer may be proud—skill in presentation of his own evidence, extraordinary ability in cross examination, strong grasp of every feature of the case, power to secure favorable rulings from the judge, unusual familiarity with human nature and untiring industry. These qualities have gained him notable success in law practice.
At the time of his death half a century was drawing to its close since the subject of this sketch, the late Robert Reford, first established a commercial connection with Montreal. The outstanding position which Mr. Reford occupied in the life of the city was the natural outcome of qualities which quickly bring men to be recognized as a source of strength to whatever spheres in which they may move. He was a man of very pronounced ability, tenaciousness of purpose, firmness of decision and of forceful character but by those who knew him best he will be remembered, chiefly for those high standards of honor which were his for the straightforwardness and uprightness of all his dealings with his fellowmen and for the strong sense of justice which throughout his long career he was so often called upon to exercise.
Robert Reford was born at Moylena, which for generations had been the family seat near Antrim, Ireland, in 1831 and was a lad of fourteen when in 1845 he came with his mother, three brothers and one sister to make his home in Canada. The family arrived at Quebec the night of the great fire when the lower town was almost completely destroyed. After a very brief stay in Montreal they settled in Toronto, where Mr. Reford completed his education. He was, however, still but a boy when he became engaged in business and, though he was indentured to work for his first employer for two years at a fixed salary, it is indicative of the great natural capacity which he possessed and of his steadiness and alertness in business, that at the end of the first year his salary was increased fivefold and again at the end of the second year that amountwas doubled. In three years time, still barely on the threshold of manhood, Robert Reford had proved his ability to such an extent as to be offered a partnership with William Strachan in a wholesale and retail grocery business which the latter was about to open. This offer was accepted but the firm dissolved after a few years duration and Mr. Reford started a business on his own account, which he continued to conduct alone for several years, only taking Richard Dunbar as a partner when he acquired, by purchase, from William Ross, another large wholesale business of the same nature. The two businesses were run separately, one as Reford & Dunbar, the other in partnership with the late John Dillon, as Reford & Dillon, wholesale grocers and merchants. It would indeed have been strange if a man, imbued with the spirit of enterprise and courage, as was Mr. Reford to a very remarkable degree, had been content to remain without some wider scope for his abilities than that offered, even by a successful wholesale business. It was not long before he took the initial step which was to lead him so far along the path of that vast question of transportation.