Ross, John Theodore, B.A. (Quebec), is one of the leading capitalists of the city. He was born in that city on Nov. 30, 1862, the son of the late John Ross, a prominent merchant and his wife, Anne Runcie. The late Senator J. G. Ross was his uncle. He was educated at Quebec High School, at Morrin College and at McGill University, Montreal, from which latter institution he graduated with the degree of B.A. in 1883. He entered the wholesale business firm of his father, known as John Ross & Co., in 1884, and was admitted to full partnership in 1887, continuing in this capacity until 1894 when the firm was liquidated. Since then he has been widely engaged in financial and commercial operations. He was elected Vice-President of the Quebec Bank in 1897 and President in 1908. On its amalgamation with the Royal Bank of Canada some years later he became a Director of the latter institution. Among his many other interests is that of President of the Chronicle Printing Company, which publishes the “Quebec Chronicle,” one of the historic newspapers of Eastern Canada. His other commercial interests have at various times embraced the Quebec Steamship Company, the Montmorency Cotton Mills Company, the McArthur Export Company, The Quebec Improvement Company, the Trans-Canada Railway Co., the Pacific Pass Coalfields, Ltd., the Quebec Transport Company, the North Pacific Lumber Company. He has also taken a deep interest in public and philanthropic affairs. He is a member of the Quebec Board of Trade and Chairman of the Quebec High School Board, Vice-President of the Literary and Historical Society, Quebec, President of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and President of the Jeffrey Hale Hospital. In religion he is a Presbyterian, and in politics a Conservative. He is a member of the Garrison Club, Quebec, and his recreations are driving and tennis. On April 15, 1896, he married Mabel Kate, daughter of John Burstall, Quebec, and has two sons and two daughters. He resides on St. Louis Road, Quebec.
Rogers, John Morrison (Ingersoll, Ont.), physician and surgeon, has been active in the Liberal Party for a number of years, being Liberal nominee for the Legislative Assembly in his constituency at the present time. He is the son of Thomas and Margaret Rogers, and was born at Mount Forest, Ont., in 1867, where he received his early education, afterwards graduating from Toronto University in 1893. Dr. Rogers married Edythe B., daughter of J. B. Hambridge, Aylmer, Ont., in 1902, and has three sons: John Reginald, Donald Morrison, and William Parke. He is a member of the Ontario Medical Association, Vice-President Western Liberal Association, the Ingersoll Curling Club, and the Ingersoll Bowling Club. In religion he is a Presbyterian.
Colquhoun, Arthur Hugh Urquhart, B.A., LL.D., Deputy Minister of Education for the Province of Ontario, was born at Montreal on December 2, 1861, the son of the late Walter Colquhoun (a native of Dumbartonshire, Scotland,) and his wife Jane, daughter of William Clarke, Niagara, Ont., and relict of Charles Richardson, M.P. He was educated at Cornwall Public School, Montreal High School (where he won the Murray Medal for proficiency and the Governor-General’s Medal for literature and history) and McGill University, from which he graduated in 1885 with the degree of B.A., first class honors in English literature and history, and the Shakespeare gold medal. During his student days he took up the calling of journalism and joined the editorial staff of the “Montreal Star” in 1881. In 1883 he was entrusted with the post of editor-in-chief of the “Montreal Weekly Star,” and at the same time edited the “McGill University Gazette.” In 1886 he went to Ottawa and accepted the post of editor of the “Journal” of that city. In 1887, when the leaders of the Conservative government founded the “Toronto Empire” as chief organ of the party, he was appointed assistant editor and has ever since made Toronto his home. In 1891, he was appointed managing editor of the “Empire” and continued in that capacity until its amalgamation with the “Mail” in 1895. In the latter year, he entered the growing field of trade journalism with Col. J. B. Maclean, and until 1902 edited the “Printer and Publisher” and the “Dry Goods Review.” In 1902, he joined the staff of the “Mail and Empire” as editorial writer, and early in 1903, when Mr. J. S. (now Sir John) Willison reorganized the “Toronto News,” he became news editor of that publication, and helped to make the paper temporarily famous for the literary distinction and importance of its news columns. From the outset of the political career of the late Sir James Whitney, Mr. Colquhoun had been his close personal friend and adviser. One of the pledges of that statesman while leader of the opposition in the Ontario Legislature was a reorganization of the educational system from top to bottom, and shortly after his elevation to the post of Prime Minister in 1905 he appointed a Royal Commission of distinguished men to enquire into the affairs of the provincial university at Toronto. At the request of Mr. Whitney, Mr. Colquhoun accepted the position of secretary of the commission, and had much to do with the drafting of its report, which proved to be one of the most important documents of its kind produced in this country. In recognition of his services in this capacity, the University conferred on him the honorary degree of LL.D. in 1906. In the latter year he was also appointed Deputy Minister of Education, a position he still holds, and was largely instrumental in putting into effect the reforms promised by Sir James Whitney. In 1908, he was offered and declined the post of Chief Librarian of the city of Toronto. Among the earlier positions that he held was that of Chairman of the Press Committee of the British Association when it met at Toronto in 1897, an occasion which brought to Canada many of the great scientists of that day. He was also elected President of the Canadian Press Association for 1906-7. Both before and since his retirement from journalism, Mr. Colquhoun has been a frequent contributor, chiefly on historical themes, to magazines and reviews, including “The Canadian Magazine,” “The University Magazine,” “The British Empire Review,” and “Queen’s Quarterly.” On the political history of the provinces of Canada, he is a recognized authority; and his published works include “The History of Canadian Press Association”; the volume on the Fathers of Confederation in “The Chronicles of Canada,” and “Memoir of Senator Gowan, C.M.G.” (which he edited). His books are marked by purity of diction, and shrewd and moderate judgments on men and events. Mr. Colquhoun is a member of the Toronto Club and the Toronto Golf Club, and resides at 342 Walmer Road, Toronto.
Miller, Lieut.-Colonel John Bellamy, Manufacturer (Toronto, Ont.), President of the Polson Iron Works, Limited, and Parry Sound Lumber Company, is the son of John Clausin Miller, Lumberman, Parry Sound, Ont., and Adelaide Augusta Chamberlain; was born at Farmersville (now Athens), July 26, 1862, and received his education at the Model School, Toronto, and Upper Canada College. Following his educational training, Mr. Miller entered the lumber business with the Parry Sound Lumber Co. as clerk, and while holding this position, mastered every detail of lumber manufacturing. In 1883, following his father’s death, John B. Miller took complete charge of the business and was made president of the Company, which position he still holds. He is also president of the Polson Iron Works, Limited, of Toronto, and holds a like position in the Polson Dry Dock and Shipbuilding Co. of Toronto. Added to the above Mr. Miller is president of the Consumers Box Company of Toronto, and was largely instrumental in the formation of the Canadian Lumbermen’s Association, of which he is past-president. Mr. Miller holds membership in the following clubs: National Ontario, R.C.Y.C., Rosedale Golf, Scarboro Golf, Ontario Jockey Club, Canadian Military Institute, Aero Club of Canada, all of Toronto; the Rideau Club, of Ottawa; Junior Army & Navy Club, London, Eng.; Aero Club of America, New York; Royal Colonial Institute, London; Associate of Institute of Naval Architects of London, Eng. Mr. Miller was married October 3rd, 1883, to Hannah Pollock Hunter. Mrs. Miller died in 1893. By this marriage there were two sons, John Clausin Miller and Henry H. Miller. Mr. Miller’s second marriage took place September 22nd, 1897, to Jessie Thompson, of Longford, Ont., a daughter of the late John Thompson, a prominent Lumberman of that place. One daughter survives this union, Margaret Lumsden Miller, together with Capt. H. H. Miller, son of the first marriage. Mr. Miller has the honor of being Lieut.-Col. of the 23rd Regiment of Northern Pioneers, with Headquarters at Parry Sound; is a Liberal in politics and his favorite recreations are golf, shooting and fishing; resides at 98 Wellesley Street, and has his office at Polson Iron Works.
Nasmith, Colonel George Gallie (Toronto, Ont.), who already enjoyed a high reputation throughout Canada as a sanitary expert, has won added distinction in the European War through brilliant services in his special field. He was made Lieutenant-Colonel, August, 1914 (Colonel in April, 1917), and Officer Commanding the Hydrological Corps, in which capacity he had charge of the purification of the water supply at the new Valcartier Military Camp during the mobilization of the First Contingent. He was sent to England as adviser in sanitation in charge of water purifications with the first contingent. While on Salisbury Plain, he was useful in getting the remainder of the contingent inoculated against typhoid; in installing a laboratory for the control of cerebro-spinal meningitis, and in training men in the purification of water. Colonel Nasmith was sent to France in March, 1915, as O.C. No. 5 (Canadian) Mobile Laboratory, where he conceived the idea of a mobile filter unit for purifying any water supply, which has since been adopted by the war office, and is now in general use among the British armies in France, Mesopotamia, and elsewhere. He was present at the second battle of Ypres, and saw the gas being discharged by the Germans for the first time. He diagnosed its composition correctly, and reported it to General Army Headquarters, recommending the use of masks to cover the face and nose, saturated with hyposulphite of soda to absorb the gas. These were adopted until experience enabled a more perfect type to be elaborated. Other recommendations made by him in regard to gas and water purification were also adopted. He was the representative of Canada on the War Allies Sanitary Commission which met in Paris during 1916. In January, 1916, he was mentioned in despatches, and made C.M.G. for services in the field, being decorated by the King. Colonel Nasmith is a Baptist in religion, and a Conservative in politics. He is a member of the Academy of Medicine, of the American and Canadian Public Health Associations, the Arts and Letters Club, and the Engineers Club, of Toronto. Obtained the Diploma of Public Health from Toronto University in 1918. He has published numerous general papers on foods, milk, water purification, and sewage disposal, as well as conducting researches which are embodied in the following papers:—“The Hæmatology of Carbon Monoxide Poisoning,” “Changes Induced in the Blood of Guinea Pigs in an Atmosphere of Coal Gas,” “A Simple Method of Purifying Almost any Water Supply,” “A New Type of Trickling Filter,” “A Mobile Filter of Large Capacity Suggested for Use in the British Army,” “The Chemistry of Wheat Gluten,” and “Wind Driven Currents in the Great Lakes.” He is also author of “On the Fringe of the Great Fight,” published 1918, and “Canada’s Sons and Great Britain in the Great War,” published 1919. Colonel Nasmith is greatly interested in music, painting, and the drama, as well as in horticulture and sailing. From 1903 to 1909 he was Chemist to the Provincial Board of Health of Ontario, and from 1909 to date Director of Laboratories, Department of Health, Toronto. He was born in Toronto in 1877, the son of Mungo Nasmith, of Greenock, Scotland, and Jane Morrow, of Bath, England. He was educated at Jarvis Street Collegiate and the University of Toronto, graduating as a B.A. in 1900 and as M.A. and Ph.D. in 1903, also receiving the Honorary Degree of D.Sc. in 1917 from his alma mater in recognition of his scientific work with the British Army in France. Colonel Nasmith married Mrs. Scott Roff, Principal of the Margaret Eaton School of Literature and Expression, and daughter of the late Rev. James Scott, Owen Sound, Ontario, in 1916.