Gill, Robert, of Ottawa, a gentleman well known to the seniors of Canadian finance, is one of the best known citizens of the Canadian capital, where he has resided since 1876. He has been especially identified with the history of the Canadian Bank of Commerce, of which institution he was a trusted officer for over forty years. He was born at Dundas, Ont., on September 30, 1851, the son of William and Alison (Sanderson) Gill, both his parents being of Scottish Border origin. He was educated at Upper Canada College, Toronto, and entered the service of the Bank of Commerce at the age of nineteen. This was in 1870, and the Bank was but three years old. In its expansion during the next few years Mr. Gill actively participated; his promotions were rapid, and in 1874 he was appointed manager of the Galt, Ont., branch. In 1876 he was transferred to the Ottawa branch, which was regarded as one of the most important in the Bank of Commerce chain of agencies. In 1880 he was appointed an Inspector of the Bank and retained that position until 1887 when he was appointed Manager of the Ottawa branch, which had attained a very important position in the financial life of the capital. Under his regime it attained a wide expansion of business and he continued to direct its affairs until 1911, when he retired on pension after forty-one years’ service. During his career with the Bank of Commerce he proved himself not only a practical banker with a complete understanding of the needs of the business community, but an able thinker and essayist on financial questions. Among his publications was one on the subject of Post Office Savings Banks reprinted in the “Canadian Banker’s Journal” for the use of the United States Currency Commission. Since his retirement from active business he has lent his services and influence to the promotion of patriotic and other objects of public welfare, and during the late war was Vice-President of the Executive of the Ottawa branch of the Canadian Patriotic Fund. He is also a Life Governor and Vice-President of St. Luke’s Hospital in that city, and in June, 1916, was appointed a member of the Military Hospitals Commission. From 1899 to 1906 he was honorary captain and paymaster of the Governor-General’s Foot Guards. He is a prominent figure in the social life of his chosen city, and in 1914 was elected President of the Rideau Club of Ottawa, a position he still holds at the time of writing. He is also a member of the following other clubs: Country (Ottawa), St. James (Montreal), York (Toronto), Ottawa Golf, R.C.Y.C. (Toronto) and the Constitutional (London, Eng.). He is a Past President of the Ottawa Literary and Scientific Society, member of St. Andrew’s Society (Ottawa), the Royal Canadian Institute and the Archæological Society of America, and a life member of the Royal Colonial Institute (England). His recreations are golf and angling; in religion he is an Anglican and in politics, a Conservative. Mr. Gill was first married on September 20, 1881, to Caroline, daughter of John Gilmour of “Marchmont,” Ottawa, by whom he has one surviving son, Major Allan Gilmour Gill, who during the late war commanded the 45th Battery, Canadian Field Artillery, overseas. This lady passed away on April 19, 1884, and Mr. Gill married again on November 20, 1899, Anna Louise, daughter of the late W. R. Thistle, by whom he has three sons, Henry Robert Thistle, Evan William Thistle and Francis Egan Thistle. His permanent residence is at 281 O’Connor Street, Ottawa, and he has a summer residence, “Gillcairn,” at St. Andrew’s, N.B.
Wright, Alexander Whyte, late Vice-Chairman Workmen’s Compensation Commission of Ontario, was born in the township of Markham, York County, Ontario, December 17, 1847, the son of George and Helen (Whyte) Wright, who came to Canada from Glasgow, Scotland, some years previously. He was educated in the public schools of New Hamburg, and after a short time in a drug store, learned the woollen business, later engaging in the woollen manufacturing business at Linwood, Waterloo County, and subsequently in Preston, St. Jacobs and Guelph. At an early age he joined the 29th Battalion, and responded to the call to arms for the Fenian raid. When the first Riel rebellion broke out he joined the Red River Expedition under General Sir Garnet Wolseley (afterwards British Commander-in-Chief Earl Wolseley), serving as a sergeant. On returning he rejoined the 29th Battalion as sergeant-major. In his later teens and early twenties he had quite a local reputation as a fine lacrosse player and fast runner. He had always been a great reader and taken an interest in politics, and in 1873 left the woollen business to become a reporter on the Guelph “Herald,” soon after being engaged as editor of the Orangeville “Sun.” He next edited the Stratford “Herald,” then the Guelph “Herald.” In 1878 he came to Toronto as editor and joint publisher of “The National,” making it an ardent advocate of the national policy, which the late Sir John A. Macdonald had adopted as his platform after having been urgently pressed to do so by a deputation consisting of the late Hon. Isaac Buchannan of Hamilton the late William Wallace, M.P. for Simcoe, the late John Maclean (father of W. F. Maclean, M.P. of the “World”), the late Thomas Cowan of Galt, the late W. H. Fraser and Mr. Wright. During the election campaign, he wrote many articles in the “National” that were extensively quoted by the Conservative press. Shortly after his return to power, Sir John A. Macdonald wrote Mr. Wright a letter in his own hand, in which he said:—“I wish to thank you most sincerely for your splendid work in the campaign which has just ended so satisfactorily. Your speeches and writings did more, I believe, than anything else to convert the people to protection. I only had the good fortune to hear you once—in the amphitheatre—but I was then struck with your wonderful grasp of the question and the extraordinary fund of information you possessed, and no less struck with the admirable way in which you marshalled your facts and presented your arguments. I hope to be able to express my gratitude to you in a more substantial way, and will be delighted if you will give me an opportunity to do so.” Mr. Wright returned to Guelph in 1879 as editor and joint publisher of the “Herald.” The proposed Government agreement for the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway did not meet with Mr. Wright’s approval, and, as the “Herald” had always been a Conservative paper, he gave up his interest in it, and wrote a series of articles published in the “Mercury,” advocating its being built and owned by the Government and paid for by a national currency—not notes or promises to pay, but bills of different denominations, reading “Legal tender for all debts, public and private.” He called a meeting to explain his plan in Guelph city hall, which was packed. At the conclusion of his address he moved a resolution calling on the Government to adopt the plan. On sitting down, the late Mr. Donald Guthrie—father of Hon. Hugh Guthrie, and at that time member of the legislature—arose and said that he had attended for the purpose of opposing the scheme, but Mr. Wright’s explanation had so clearly demonstrated its feasibility and incalculable value that he was converted to it, and had much pleasure in seconding the resolution. On those in favour being asked to raise their hands, the audience, with the exception of one man, rose to their feet and cheered for several minutes. In thanking the audience for their almost unanimous endorsation of this plan, Mr. Wright declared that the one exception was an unlooked-for further compliment. For his independent thought and action the “Mail” undertook to read Mr. Wright “out of the party.” Sir John A. Macdonald wrote Mr. Wright, repudiating its assumed authority, recognized his right to personal opinion, good standing as a Conservative, and assured him of his personal friendship, and continuing said: “I have read a report of your speech at Guelph, and, while I am sorry you saw occasion to make it, I confess I was struck with the plan you outline for the building of the railway. Possibly, under different conditions it might be practicable, but do not think it could be carried out now.” His ideas, however, were over a generation in advance of the people’s desire for public ownership, and, as a consequence private capitalists draw some $40,000,000 in bond interest and dividends yearly, besides adding large sums to reserve, which the people pay; while the people are out a huge land and money bonus, have neither the national railway nor a national currency, but instead a huge octopus of capitalists that dominates our legislation and is an ever-watchful and valiant defender of “vested rights”—whether rightly or wrongly obtained. Mr. Wright was invited to speak at the convention of the U.S. Greenbackers in Chicago in 1880, and accepted, as well as during the subsequent campaign. He returned to Toronto in 1881, and became editorial writer on the “World.” The following year he became Secretary of the Canadian Manufacturers Association, continuing till 1886, when, owing to the lines of cleavage between capital and labor becoming marked, he resigned and established the “Labor Reformer,” the first paper in Canada to advocate public ownership and a workmen’s compensation act. While secretary of the Canadian Manufacturers Association he drafted a factory act which he urged the Dominion Government to pass, providing equal protection and conditions to the workers in all provinces, as well as for manufacturers against unequal labor conditions. This the Government failed to adopt. The draft, however, was made the basis of the Factory Act passed by the Ontario Government shortly after; but this, of course, could give no protection to the Ontario manufacturer (and indirectly to the workers as well) against the longer hours and lower labor conditions obtaining in the Province of Quebec. In 1886, he was appointed Dominion Government agent for the Antwerp and the Indian and Colonial Exhibitions, and acted as one of four commissioners representing Canada in London at the latter. In 1887, he represented Toronto District Assembly at the General Assembly of the Knights of Labor, and was the first Canadian elected member of the General Executive Board, and immediately after was appointed editor of the “Journal of the Knights of Labor,” Philadelphia, official organ of the order, continuing to hold both positions till 1892, when he removed to New York as editor of “The Craftsman.” In 1896, he was appointed by the Laurier Government special commissioner to investigate and report on the sweating system in Canada, and was subsequently asked by that Government to investigate and report on the Japanese difficulties in British Columbia, but was unable to accept. From 1898 to 1904, he was organizer of the Conservative party in Ontario, engaging in three campaigns, being in charge of the campaign that resulted in Sir James Whitney becoming Premier. For a number of years he was president of the Canadian Public Ownership League, which did valuable work in educating the public as to the advantages of the idea now so firmly rooted in the Province of Ontario. He was a candidate for the Ontario Legislature in West Toronto, on the public ownership platform in 1908, but was defeated in the three-cornered contest. In 1910-11, he spent about eight months in Britain writing and speaking in the interest of Imperial preferential trade. On the Ontario Government in 1914 constituting a commission to put in operation the Workmen’s Compensation Act, Mr. Wright was appointed Vice-Chairman of the Board, his appointment said to be the last in which Sir James Whitney took any personal interest. The appointment met with the unanimous approval of organized labor. During the recruiting campaign, Mr. Wright took a very active and effective part in speaking throughout the city and elsewhere. He married, January 26, 1876, Elizabeth R., eldest daughter of the late Robert Simpson, at that time of Guelph, but formerly and latterly of Toronto. Mrs. Wright died in 1913. He is survived by his daughter, Mrs. W. E. Hunter of Toronto, a grandson and granddaughter, and a brother, Daniel W., of Cashmere, Washington, U.S. For some time he had been troubled with blood pressure and in September, 1918, sustained a slight stroke at his place in Niagara-on-the-Lake, where he delighted in birds, flowers, and fruit, in the cultivation of which he was well versed. In April he had a severe attack of neuritis, which, together with heart trouble, resulted in his death, June 12, 1919, at his home, 105 Macdonnell Avenue, Toronto. Of him, Dr. James L. Hughes wrote: “A. W. Wright was a vitally progressive force in Canada for half a century. He was a true democrat who recognized the right of women as well as men to freedom. Few men of his time so fully represented and so powerfully expressed justice and consideration for others as the basis of brotherhood. He was a charming comrade, a faithful friend, and an eloquent orator. All who knew him were better for his influence. No man could think a mean or base thought in his presence.” In a touching letter to Mrs. Hunter from Washington, D.C., T. V. Powderly, formerly General Master Workman of the Knights of Labor, wrote, in answer to a notification of Mr. Wright’s death:—“It was withheld from me until this morning; for a good reason, I suppose. . . . Anyway, I want to remember your father as I last saw him at my home here four years ago. His going was a blow to you and all his friends. He drew his sunshine from no niggard store, and spread more of it across life’s dark pathway than any man I ever met. His picture, framed, had a vase of Marie Pavia roses before it this morning. I understood—for your father gave that rosebush to me thirty years ago, and when we moved here from Scranton in 1899 we took it with us; we call it Marie Pavia Wright. I have known your father for forty years, and though for part of that time we were officially associated in the K. of L., our friendship was confined within no official band. . . . For years I had a dream. It was that some day I could so manage as to live close to your father and John Devlin. D. died a year ago. Perhaps we may live together yet—who knows? Soon I shall take up the journey they have begun, and when that hour comes I hope it may be said of me as I now say of your father:—
“Out through the portals of death he passed
To that ultimate, Unknown land;
The chart of right and of deeds well done,
Held in his cold, dead hand.
For the words he traced to his latest breath
Are unclouded by wrong or ruth;
And stamped on all, as he met his death,