Donald Smith, 1st Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal

Politician

• Born: August 6, 1820
• Birthplace: Forres, Scotland
• Died: January 21, 1914
• Place of death: London, England

Contribution: Donald Smith, Baron Strathcona of Glencoe and Mount Royal, was a Canadian fur trader, businessman, and politician. After arriving in the British colony of Lower Canada from Scotland in 1838, Smith joined the Hudson’s Bay Company, eventually rising to the rank of chief commissioner. Smith was elected to the first provincial legislature in Manitoba and was an important railway financier, who received the honor of driving the last spike into the Canadian Pacific Railway when it was completed in 1885. Returning to politics after a stint as president of the Bank of Montreal, Smith was appointed the high commissioner for Canada in London in 1896.

Background

Donald Alexander Smith was born in Forres, Scotland, on August 6, 1820, to Alexander Smith and Barbara Stuart. He attended the Forres Academy but left at the age of sixteen to embark on a legal apprenticeship at the town clerk’s office. Following in the footsteps of his uncle, fur trader John Stuart, Smith immigrated to Lower Canada in 1838 and joined the Hudson’s Bay Company, a Crown corporation that was heavily involved in fur trading.

Early Business Career

In 1843, after becoming a clerk for the Hudson’s Bay Company, Smith was appointed the administrator of Mingan, a seignorial district in Labrador. Though Smith was widely considered one of the company’s most inventive young administrators, he had a contentious relationship with the Hudson’s Bay Company’s governor, George Simpson, who criticized Smith’s disorganization. The Mingan post was destroyed by a fire the following year, and Smith left Labrador for Montreal, where he sought medical attention for an eye injury sustained in the blaze. By 1848, Smith returned to Labrador, where he received administrative control over the Hudson’s Bay Company’s regional fishing and fur trading interests, rising to the rank of chief factor by 1862.

Despite his rocky relationship with George Simpson, Smith greatly impressed the Hudson’s Bay Company’s senior directors in Britain when he traveled to London in 1865. An appointment to the high-ranking post of commissioner of the company’s Montreal division followed in 1868, and by 1871, he was chief commissioner of the Hudson’s Bay Company’s Canadian operations. Reinvesting his earnings, Smith became the Hudson’s Bay Company’s single largest shareholder and was promoted to its board of directors in 1883, before taking complete executive control of the company in 1889 as its governor.

Political Career

After Manitoba entered Canadian confederation on July 15, 1870, Smith was elected to its provincial parliament on December 27 of that year, representing the capital region of Winnipeg-St. John. His win angered Winnipeg-based Ontario troops who were loyal to Smith’s electoral opponent, John Christian Schultz, and riots broke out when the election results were made public. During his time in Manitoba’s provincial government, Smith was instrumental in establishing both the Bank of Manitoba and the Manitoba Insurance Company.

Smith entered federal politics as the representative for the riding of Selkirk, Manitoba, in 1871. His dual service in Manitoba’s provincial government and the Federal House of Commons ended in 1874, after a law passed prohibiting politicians from simultaneously holding elected positions in both provincial and federal governments. Smith retained his seat in the federal legislature and remained Selkirk’s representative until 1878, before leaving politics to pursue his business interests. Smith returned to the House of Commons in 1887, however, as the representative of the Montreal West riding, a post he retained until 1896.

Railway Development in Canada

In 1873, Smith and his business partners bought up depreciating railway bonds for a train link between Manitoba and Minnesota and invested heavily in its redevelopment, eventually building it into one of the most economically vital railway lines in western Canada. Buoyed by this success, Smith became a major financier of the Canadian Pacific Railway, a cross-country railroad project.

Because of the strained relationship he had with Prime Minister John A. Macdonald during his years as the Selkirk representative in the House of Commons, however, he was not invited to serve as one of the Canadian Pacific Railway’s official developmental directors. In spite of this, Smith was invited to drive the Canadian Pacific Railway’s final spike in 1885, when work on the national railroad was finally completed. In 1886, Smith was knighted for his service in Canada, and by 1887, he also had become president of the Bank of Montreal, which was an instrumental source of funding for the Canadian Pacific Railway.

Later Life and Death

In his later years, Smith became one of Canada’s most prominent statesmen. After balking at the opportunity to run for prime minister, Smith was appointed Canada’s high commissioner to London in 1896 and went on to become the chancellor of Montreal’s McGill University, where he was instrumental in the creation of the Royal Victoria College for Women. In 1897, he received the newly created title of Baron Strathcona of Glencoe and Mount Royal when Queen Victoria offered him a peerage.

After amassing extreme wealth from his activities in the Hudson’s Bay Company and the Canadian Pacific Railway, Smith spent his final years as a philanthropist. He died January 21, 1914, in London, England, at the age of ninety-three.

Bibliography

“Donald Alexander Smith Strathcona and Mount Royal, 1st Baron.” Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. (2013): n. pag. Canadian Reference Centre. Web. 29 July 2013.

Farr, D. M. L. “Smith, Donald Alexander, 1st Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal.” Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica-Dominion, 2012. Web. 29 July 2013.

McDonald, Donna. Lord Strathcona: A Biography of Donald Alexander Smith. Toronto: Dundurn, 2002. Print.

McKee, J. S. C. “1912 Remembered: In Pursuit of an Idea.” Manitoba History 69 (2012): 33–35. Print.

Reford, Alexander. “Smith, Donald Alexander, 1st Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal.” Dictionary of Canadian Biography. U of Toronto and Université Laval, 2013. Web. 29 July 2013.

Scott, Graham F. “Our Rich Past.” Canadian Business 80.24 (2007): 131–32. Print.