Charles Meredith
Encyclopedia
Charles Meredith was a Canadian banker, President of the Montreal Stock Exchange, and the builder of Charles Meredith House, now part of McGill University
, Montreal
, the seventh son of John Walsingham Cooke Meredith
and his wife Sarah (1818–1900), daughter of Anthony Pegler (1792–1871) of King's Stanley, Gloucestershire. Charles and his well known brothers were collectively known as The Eight London Merediths who included amongst them Sir William Ralph Meredith
, Chief Justice Richard Martin Meredith
, Sir Vincent Meredith
and Thomas Graves Meredith
Q.C., first cousins of The Rt. Hon. Richard Edmund Meredith
. His father was a first cousin of Sir William Collis Meredith
of Quebec
, Edmund Allen Meredith
and Sir James Creed Meredith (1842–1912), the father of Judge James Creed Meredith
.
and Brandon
. In 1887 he came to Montreal
, where he purchased a seat on the stock exchange and formed C. Meredith & Co. Ltd, Stock and Bond brokers, with offices on St.-Francois-Xavier Street. The company, which soon established itself as the leading bond house in Montreal, later changed it’s name to the United Financial Corporation Ltd. Meredith was President of both of these institutions until they amalgamated with the National City Company.
After Dominion Securities, Meredith's was the first Canadian stockbroking firm to open an office in London
, mainly due to the close relationship the company held with the Bank of Montreal
, Canada's largest and most powerful commercial bank. Many of the directors of the Bank of Montreal were also directors and shareholders of C. Meredith & Co.
When Gerald Farrell became the secretary-treasurer of Meredith's in 1908, the firm began to engage in industrial merger promotion. By 1910 the firm had established an office in London
and was acting as an issue house in England
by at least 1913.
In 1902 Charles Meredith had been elected President of the Montreal Stock Exchange, a position he held until 1905. In 1910 he became President of Hillcress Collier Ltd, and was a director of the British and Colonial Press Service, as well as being a member of the Board of Arbitration and the Montreal Board of Trade. He worked on the exchange for nearly twenty years, and at his retirement was one of its oldest members. His business was largely of an investment class and he discouraged speculative ventures on the part of his clients, grounding his reputation in financial circles as one of the highest integrity.
Because of his failing health, Meredith was forced to retire from business life in 1924, though he maintained a considerable financial interest and a friendly connection with the firm of his successors as stock and bond brokers, Crutchlow, Dean and Co.
and President of the Bank of Montreal
from 1910 to 1913. As a wedding present Richard Angus bought the newly-weds a house known as ‘The Gatehouse’ (which still stands as part of the McGill Faculty of Law, known as the Angus-McIntyre House) on Peel Street. In 1904, the Merediths commissioned Edward Maxwell to build them a large three-storey house at 538 Pine Avenue, which was completed a year later in the Golden Square Mile
. Mrs Meredith lived there until her death, when she left it to be used as a residence for the nurses of the Royal Victoria Hospital (Montreal). In the 1970s it was bought by McGill University
, and serves today as part of the McGill Faculty for Medicine, known as Charles Meredith House. Their old house on Peel Street was afterwards lived in by another of the 'Eight London Merediths', John Stanley Meredith (1843–1920), Director-General of the Merchant's Bank, Montreal
.
In 1897 the Merediths bought 'Bally Bawn', a country house built around a library in 1750 by the Sulpicians, near Fort Senneville
and Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec
. They employed the architect Edward Maxwell to design some additions and alterations to the house, later added to again in 1909, giving the house its present size. "An impressive country residence marked by three high gables... Hidden behind the estate's foliage, amidst many flowerbeds, was a tennis court, garages, cottages for the chauffeurs and gardeners, henhouses, greenhouses and various other auxiliary buildings," (McGill University Papers).
home (where on one occasion he chose to have his portrait taken) and always looked forward to the summer at his country house where he could spend as much of the season as possible gardening. His knowledge of gardening and tree culture was said to be 'comparable to a good professional gardener'.
In his earlier years Mr Meredith had been 'an athlete of renown' (The Storied Province of Quebec). He was a good rower and boxer, and very fond of outdoor exercise of all descriptions. He loved to fish and was an excellent shot too. He was a director of the Quebec Fish and Game Association and the Montreal Parks and Playgrounds Association. His clubs included the Mount Royal Club, St. James's Club, Montreal Racquet Club, Royal Montreal Golf Club
, Empire Club of Canada
, Montreal Jockey Club, Royal St. Lawrence Yacht Club
and the Montreal Hunt.
He maintained a lively interest in world events until the close of his life, becoming something of a kindly philosopher, understanding mankind as it is given few men to understand their fellows. He found the world a good place in which to live, and was at peace with things as he found them, though ever alert to make improvements where possible and wise... Meredith, ‘the popular stockbroker’, was a benefactor of Montreal in many ways, assisting in all leading movements for its betterment, and he gave liberally to the causes of charity
Charles and Elspeth Meredith died without children. Mrs Meredith was a godmother to some of her Angus nephews and nieces as well as to 'the Montreal English theatre icon', Roseanna Seaborn Todd, grand-daughter of the General-Manager of the Bank of Montreal
, Sir Edward Clouston, 1st Baronet
. Mr and Mrs Meredith are buried at Mount Royal Cemetery
, Montreal, next to Sir Vincent Meredith
and Lady Meredith, and their cousin, Frederick Edmund Meredith
.
McGill University
Mohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...
, Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
Family
Born October 17, 1854, into 'a home rich in cultural elements' on Talbot Street, London, Upper CanadaUpper Canada
The Province of Upper Canada was a political division in British Canada established in 1791 by the British Empire to govern the central third of the lands in British North America and to accommodate Loyalist refugees from the United States of America after the American Revolution...
, the seventh son of John Walsingham Cooke Meredith
John Walsingham Cooke Meredith
John Walsingham Cooke Meredith J.P., an Anglo-Irish-Canadian office holder and businessman, best remembered as the father of the Eight London Merediths.-Background:...
and his wife Sarah (1818–1900), daughter of Anthony Pegler (1792–1871) of King's Stanley, Gloucestershire. Charles and his well known brothers were collectively known as The Eight London Merediths who included amongst them Sir William Ralph Meredith
William Ralph Meredith
The Hon. Sir William Ralph Meredith, Q.C., LL.D. was Leader of the Ontario Conservatives from 1878 to 1894; Chancellor of the University of Toronto from 1900 until his death, and Chief Justice of Ontario from 1913 until his death...
, Chief Justice Richard Martin Meredith
Richard Martin Meredith
Chief Justice The Hon. Richard Martin Meredith Q.C. was a founder of The University of Western Ontario; vice-chancellor of Ontario; President of the High Court of the Supreme Court of Ontario and Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas.-Family:Born at 565 Talbot Street, London, Ontario, he was...
, Sir Vincent Meredith
Vincent Meredith
Sir Vincent Meredith, 1st and last Baronet of Montreal , was a Canadian banker and philanthropist; President of the Bank of Montreal, the Royal Victoria Hospital, Montreal and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts...
and Thomas Graves Meredith
Thomas Graves Meredith
Thomas Graves Meredith K.C. , Canadian lawyer and businessman; President of Canada Life Assurance and President of the Middlesex Bar Association...
Q.C., first cousins of The Rt. Hon. Richard Edmund Meredith
Richard Edmund Meredith
The Rt. Hon. Richard Edmund Meredith PC, QC , was the Master of the Rolls in Ireland, a Privy Councillor, Judge of the Supreme Court of Ireland and Judicial Commissioner of the Irish Land Commission.-Career:...
. His father was a first cousin of Sir William Collis Meredith
William Collis Meredith
The Hon. Sir William Collis Meredith, Kt., Q.C., D.C.L. was Chief Justice of the Superior Court of Quebec.-Early life:...
of Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, Edmund Allen Meredith
Edmund Allen Meredith
Edmund Allen Meredith LL.D., was Under Secretary of State for Canada; a prison reformer, writer, and the third principal of McGill University from 1846 to 1853.-Early life in Ireland:...
and Sir James Creed Meredith (1842–1912), the father of Judge James Creed Meredith
James Creed Meredith
James Creed Meredith K.C., LL.D. was an Irish nationalist of the early 20th century, who upheld Brehon Law. He was President of the Supreme Court of the Irish Republic, Chief Judicial Commissioner of Ireland and a Judge of the High Court and the Supreme Court of Ireland...
.
C. Meredith & Co.
Educated at Hellmuth College, London, Charles started his business career with the Merchant’s Bank in 1872, rising to the position of manager of the Western branches at ReginaRegina, Saskatchewan
Regina is the capital city of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The city is the second-largest in the province and a cultural and commercial centre for southern Saskatchewan. It is governed by Regina City Council. Regina is the cathedral city of the Roman Catholic and Romanian Orthodox...
and Brandon
Brandon, Manitoba
Brandon is the second largest city in Manitoba, Canada, and is located in the southwestern area of the province. Brandon is the largest city in the Westman region of Manitoba. The city is located along the Assiniboine River. Spruce Woods Provincial Park and CFB Shilo are a relatively short distance...
. In 1887 he came to Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, where he purchased a seat on the stock exchange and formed C. Meredith & Co. Ltd, Stock and Bond brokers, with offices on St.-Francois-Xavier Street. The company, which soon established itself as the leading bond house in Montreal, later changed it’s name to the United Financial Corporation Ltd. Meredith was President of both of these institutions until they amalgamated with the National City Company.
After Dominion Securities, Meredith's was the first Canadian stockbroking firm to open an office in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, mainly due to the close relationship the company held with the Bank of Montreal
Bank of Montreal
The Bank of Montreal , , or BMO Financial Group, is the fourth largest bank in Canada by deposits. The Bank of Montreal was founded on June 23, 1817 by John Richardson and eight merchants in a rented house in Montreal, Quebec. On May 19, 1817 the Articles of Association were adopted, making it...
, Canada's largest and most powerful commercial bank. Many of the directors of the Bank of Montreal were also directors and shareholders of C. Meredith & Co.
When Gerald Farrell became the secretary-treasurer of Meredith's in 1908, the firm began to engage in industrial merger promotion. By 1910 the firm had established an office in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and was acting as an issue house in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
by at least 1913.
In 1902 Charles Meredith had been elected President of the Montreal Stock Exchange, a position he held until 1905. In 1910 he became President of Hillcress Collier Ltd, and was a director of the British and Colonial Press Service, as well as being a member of the Board of Arbitration and the Montreal Board of Trade. He worked on the exchange for nearly twenty years, and at his retirement was one of its oldest members. His business was largely of an investment class and he discouraged speculative ventures on the part of his clients, grounding his reputation in financial circles as one of the highest integrity.
Because of his failing health, Meredith was forced to retire from business life in 1924, though he maintained a considerable financial interest and a friendly connection with the firm of his successors as stock and bond brokers, Crutchlow, Dean and Co.
Marriage
In 1893, Charles Meredith married Elspeth Hudson Angus (1858–1936), daughter of Richard Bladworth Angus, co-founder of Canadian Pacific RailwayCanadian Pacific Railway
The Canadian Pacific Railway , formerly also known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railway founded in 1881 and now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001...
and President of the Bank of Montreal
Bank of Montreal
The Bank of Montreal , , or BMO Financial Group, is the fourth largest bank in Canada by deposits. The Bank of Montreal was founded on June 23, 1817 by John Richardson and eight merchants in a rented house in Montreal, Quebec. On May 19, 1817 the Articles of Association were adopted, making it...
from 1910 to 1913. As a wedding present Richard Angus bought the newly-weds a house known as ‘The Gatehouse’ (which still stands as part of the McGill Faculty of Law, known as the Angus-McIntyre House) on Peel Street. In 1904, the Merediths commissioned Edward Maxwell to build them a large three-storey house at 538 Pine Avenue, which was completed a year later in the Golden Square Mile
Golden Square Mile
The Golden Square Mile was the name of a luxurious neighbourhood at the foot of Mount Royal in the west-central section of downtown Montreal, Canada...
. Mrs Meredith lived there until her death, when she left it to be used as a residence for the nurses of the Royal Victoria Hospital (Montreal). In the 1970s it was bought by McGill University
McGill University
Mohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...
, and serves today as part of the McGill Faculty for Medicine, known as Charles Meredith House. Their old house on Peel Street was afterwards lived in by another of the 'Eight London Merediths', John Stanley Meredith (1843–1920), Director-General of the Merchant's Bank, Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
.
In 1897 the Merediths bought 'Bally Bawn', a country house built around a library in 1750 by the Sulpicians, near Fort Senneville
Fort Senneville
Fort Senneville is one of the outlying forts of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, built by the Canadiens of New France near the Sainte-Anne rapids in 1671. The property was part of a fief ceded to Dugué de Boisbriant in 1672 by the Sulpicians. A large stone windmill, which doubled as a watch tower, was...
and Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec
Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec
Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue is a town located at the western tip of the Island of Montreal in southwestern Quebec, Canada. It is the second oldest community in Montreal's West Island, having been founded as a parish in 1703...
. They employed the architect Edward Maxwell to design some additions and alterations to the house, later added to again in 1909, giving the house its present size. "An impressive country residence marked by three high gables... Hidden behind the estate's foliage, amidst many flowerbeds, was a tennis court, garages, cottages for the chauffeurs and gardeners, henhouses, greenhouses and various other auxiliary buildings," (McGill University Papers).
Private life
Like many of his brothers, Meredith shared with them an enthusiasm for flowers and gardening. He kept a well-stocked conservatory in his MontrealMontreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
home (where on one occasion he chose to have his portrait taken) and always looked forward to the summer at his country house where he could spend as much of the season as possible gardening. His knowledge of gardening and tree culture was said to be 'comparable to a good professional gardener'.
In his earlier years Mr Meredith had been 'an athlete of renown' (The Storied Province of Quebec). He was a good rower and boxer, and very fond of outdoor exercise of all descriptions. He loved to fish and was an excellent shot too. He was a director of the Quebec Fish and Game Association and the Montreal Parks and Playgrounds Association. His clubs included the Mount Royal Club, St. James's Club, Montreal Racquet Club, Royal Montreal Golf Club
Royal Montreal Golf Club
The Royal Montreal Golf Club is the oldest golf club in the Americas, having been founded in 1873. In that year, a small group of eight gentlemen sat in a dockside office and formed the Montreal Golf Club...
, Empire Club of Canada
Empire Club of Canada
The Empire Club of Canada is a Canadian speakers' forum. Established in 1903, the Empire Club has provided a forum for over 3,500 speakers.Through a variety of presentation formats, the Empire Club invites local, national and international leaders and other change-agents to address the topical...
, Montreal Jockey Club, Royal St. Lawrence Yacht Club
Royal St. Lawrence Yacht Club
The Royal Saint Lawrence Yacht Club is a historic yacht club located in Dorval, Quebec on the shore of Lake St. Louis.Created in 1888 by a group of men from the Amateur Athletic Association, the club quickly grew, and in 1894 Her Majesty Queen Victoria granted it the title "Royal"...
and the Montreal Hunt.
He maintained a lively interest in world events until the close of his life, becoming something of a kindly philosopher, understanding mankind as it is given few men to understand their fellows. He found the world a good place in which to live, and was at peace with things as he found them, though ever alert to make improvements where possible and wise... Meredith, ‘the popular stockbroker’, was a benefactor of Montreal in many ways, assisting in all leading movements for its betterment, and he gave liberally to the causes of charity
Charles and Elspeth Meredith died without children. Mrs Meredith was a godmother to some of her Angus nephews and nieces as well as to 'the Montreal English theatre icon', Roseanna Seaborn Todd, grand-daughter of the General-Manager of the Bank of Montreal
Bank of Montreal
The Bank of Montreal , , or BMO Financial Group, is the fourth largest bank in Canada by deposits. The Bank of Montreal was founded on June 23, 1817 by John Richardson and eight merchants in a rented house in Montreal, Quebec. On May 19, 1817 the Articles of Association were adopted, making it...
, Sir Edward Clouston, 1st Baronet
Sir Edward Clouston, 1st Baronet
Sir Edward Seaborne Clouston, 1st Baronet was a Canadian banker and financier.He was born in Moose Factory to James Stewart Clouston, chief factor of the Hudson's Bay Company and his wife Margaret....
. Mr and Mrs Meredith are buried at Mount Royal Cemetery
Mount Royal Cemetery
Opened in 1852, Mount Royal Cemetery is a 165-acre terraced cemetery on the north slope of Mount Royal in the borough of Outremont, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The burial ground shares the mountain with the much larger adjacent Roman Catholic cemetery -- Cimetière Notre-Dame-des-Neiges...
, Montreal, next to Sir Vincent Meredith
Vincent Meredith
Sir Vincent Meredith, 1st and last Baronet of Montreal , was a Canadian banker and philanthropist; President of the Bank of Montreal, the Royal Victoria Hospital, Montreal and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts...
and Lady Meredith, and their cousin, Frederick Edmund Meredith
Frederick Edmund Meredith
Frederick Edmund Meredith K.C., D.C.L. was a Canadian lawyer and businessman, the 8th Chancellor of Bishop's University, Lennoxville; honorary President of the Montreal Victorias for three of their Stanley Cup championships in the late 1890s, and Chief Counsel to the CPR at the inquest into the...
.
Related newspaper articles
- Charles Meredith's Retirement from the Merchant's Bank
- Building a Ritz Hotel in Montreal
- Meredith Estate Case Appeal Filed
- Appeal For Share Of Estate Worth $2,500,000 Fails
- Art Collection of R.B. Angus, of Montreal
Photographs
- A portrait of Meredith's grandmother, Magdalene (Redmond) Meredith (1785-1851), that hung in his dining room in Montreal
- Miss Elspeth Angus (left) with her sisters in fancy dress, 1886
- Front elevation of Charles Meredith House
- Rear elevation of Charles Meredith House
- Mr Meredith (left in hat) at the Meighen's garden party, 1908
