The death of Queen Victoria in January, 1901, caused the loyal Scots of Montreal to send a resolution of sympathy to His Majesty, Edward VII. On the occasion of the official visit of their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall to the city in the fall of the same year, the Society erected a grandstand and a triumphal arch in the Scottish baronial style. In June, 1902, an address was forwarded to King Edward on the occasion of his coronation. At the annual ball the governor general, Lord Minto, and the Countess of Minto were present.
During the last decade the Society has continued to carry on its various works and public functions so happily inaugurated as described.
The past presidents of St. Andrew’s Society have been:
| 1835-41 | Hon. Peter McGill |
| 1841-43 | Sheriff John Boston |
| 1844-45 | Hon. Peter McGill |
| 1846 | Hon. William Morris |
| 1847 | Hon. James Ferrier |
| 1848-49 | Sir Hugh Allan |
| 1850 | William Edmonstone |
| 1851 | James Gilmour |
| 1852-54 | Hon. John Rose (afterwards Sir John Rose, Bart.) |
| 1855-56 | William Murray |
| 1857-58 | Alexander Morris |
| 1859-60 | John Greenshields |
| 1861 | David Brown |
| 1862-63 | Hon. James Ferrier |
| 1864-65 | Hon. John Young |
| 1866 | J.C. Becket |
| 1867 | Walter Macfarlan |
| 1868-69 | Andrew Robertson |
| 1870 | Hon. A.W. Ogilvie, M.P.P. |
| 1871-72 | Alexander McGibbon |
| 1873-74 | Sir Alexander T. Galt |
| 1875 | David Mackay |
| 1876-77 | Ewan McLennan |
| 1879 | Lieut.-Col. A.A. Stevenson |
| 1879 | John C. Watson |
| 1880 | Hugh Mackay |
| 1881 | James Stewart |
| 1882 | George Macrae, Q.C. |
| 1883-84 | W.W. Ogilvie |
| 1885-86 | Hugh McLennan |
| 1887-88 | R.B. Angus |
| 1889-90 | Sir Donald A. Smith (afterwards Lord Strathcona and Mount Royal, G.C.M.G.) |
| 1891-92 | Duncan McIntyre |
| 1893-94 | Hon. Robert Mackay |
| 1895-96 | Donald Macmaster, K.C. (M.P. England) |
| 1897-98 | Hugh Paton |
| 1899-1900 | James Stewart, M.P. |
| 1901-02 | A.F. Riddell |
| 1903 | Principal William Peterson, C.M.G. |
| 1904-06 | W.M. Ramsay |
| 1907-08 | Charles Cassils |
| 1909-10 | Lieut.-Col. Robert Gardner |
| 1911-12 | Sir Hugh Montagu Allan, C.V.O. |
| 1913 | Farquhar Robertson (present president) |
ST. PATRICK’S SOCIETY
St. Patrick’s Society was originally organized in 1834 as a society for benevolent and national purposes and included Irishmen of all religious denominations. At the time of its formation Irishmen were beginning to be a force in the community and the mention of the names of J. Holmes, William Workman, and Sir Francis Hincks bears this out.
The records of the transactions of this period until 1856 and long after are not to be found, but other information of the year 1856 is ample and enables us to trace the separation of the joint association into two, the St. Patrick’s Society of today and the Irish Protestant Benevolent Association.
The events leading to the reorganization of St. Patrick’s Society are as follows:
On February 12, 1856, a special meeting of the Society was held at St. Patrick’s Hall to consider the propriety of dissolving the Society. This was to allow an amalgamation of the Catholic portion of the original St. Patrick’s Society with the Catholic Hibernian Association, thus forming a new St. Patrick’s Society and to allow the Protestant members of the original St. Patrick’s to form one of their own which, in fact, they did, now known as the Irish Protestant Benevolent Society. After a series of resolutions in which there was recognition paid to the fact that the St. Patrick’s Society of Montreal, since it foundation in 1834, had carried out its prime objects according to its constitution, and recognizing that there was a move to allow the formation of other societies which would “embrace elements” now divided and in which jealous feelings would be extinguished amidst conflicting opinions and opposing parties among the Irish inhabitants of this city, it was moved by Mr. James Flynn and seconded by John McCloskey, that consequently this society do now decide to dissolve unequivocally and unreservedly and that on the termination of the proceedings this Society do adjourn sine die. The motion so moved was carried; and an acknowledgement made of the services of W.P. Bartley, Esq., for his conduct as president during the last two years.
Showing how easy was transition from one side to the other, it was moved by James Donnelly and Francis Dolan, recommending “that the paying members of this Society be admitted into the new organization without initiation fees,” and the resolution further expressed a hope that from the dissolution of the present may spring the germ of life of another organization on such a basis that sectional and petty rivalries may be merged.