SIR GEORGE A. DRUMMOND
From the time that he became a resident of Canada Sir George Drummond also became a student of the conditions of the country as affected by political interests. Perhaps no better account of his prominent connection with political affairs can be given than by quoting from one of the local papers, which wrote: “Though coming from a country wedded to free trade ideas, he discovered that new industries could not thrive here in competition with the advanced and enterprising industrial activity on the other side of the line. Hence his early advocacy of protection, designated during the campaign of 1878 as the National Policy. Sir George Drummond had formed strong friendships with Sir John A. Macdonald, Sir Charles Tupper and the more aggressive leaders of the conservative party as represented in the Canadian parliament. He was induced, much against his will, to accept the party candidature in Montreal West against one of the most popular men of the day, Hon. John Young. The contest will be remembered by some of the older citizens as one of extreme bitterness, although Mr. Drummond’s utterances on the platform were marked by ability, force and breadth of view, and those who heard him during that campaign of 1872 were not by any means surprised when he developed later into an authority on banking and finance and a leader in the discussion of matters pertaining to trade and commerce. That contest preceded by two years the fall of the Macdonald government and the acceptance of office by pronounced free traders. As delegation after delegation went to Ottawa, and were told by the finance minister that ministers were as flies on a wheel in the matter of bringing prosperity to the land, Sir George Drummond and his friends, recruited from both of the old political parties, started to organize the downfall of free trade in Canada. It was, however, when the victory had been won at the polls, when Sir Charles Tupper’s powerful efforts at the by-elections in Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia had brought forth their fruit that the hardest work had to be done, and here the ability of Sir George came powerfully into play. Sir Leonard Tilly was finance minister, Sir Mackenzie Bowell was in charge of the customs and Sir John Macdonald was powerful in the country and in parliament. He had received a mandate to bring the National Policy into force; but this was easier to say than to do. The fiscal and customs policy of the country had to be changed. It was at this time that the counsel and business experience of Sir George Drummond were brought into requisition and with a great degree of success. Time convinced men of good-will and fair mind that the broad device of ‘Canada for the Canadians’ and ‘that which is beneficial to the manufacturer will be equally beneficial to the consumer and to the country at large,’ were right. Mr. Drummond was not a conservative during his active participation in party conflicts because of individual gain. He adhered to principle rather than to party name. In 1888, Sir John Macdonald being premier, Mr. Drummond was called to the senate, and up to the time of his death was the ablest representative of the mercantile classes in the upper house of the Canadian parliament. As chairman of the banking and commerce committee of the senate his word was as law. His opinions relating to matters of financial import were received without question by minister and member alike, and when Senator Drummond had spoken upon a question of this kind there was a general consensus of opinion that little remained to be said. It was by his mastery of his subject and by his prominence in all matters affecting the moneyed interests of the Dominion that he won the respect of his fellow legislators at the capital. There are many men who are members of the Montreal Board of Trade who look back to the days when Sir George Drummond was the president of that organization and remember the manner in which he filled that office, the highest in the gift of the merchants of the commercial metropolis of the Dominion. They remember the high character of his addresses and his wise contributions to the deliberations of the council. It was accepted as a matter of course that he should lead off either as the mover or the seconder in any great question that was to be presented to the government or to the other colonies or for the consideration of the whole empire. It was as director, vice president and president of the Bank of Montreal that the citizens of the financial center of the Dominion will remember Sir George Drummond long. His ability was freely acknowledged on both continents. He was at headquarters early and late, and his attention to the interests of the bank was as marked when the financial atmosphere was serene as when there were lowering clouds on the horizon. His attitude at the annual bank meetings was the personification of tact and courtesy, and his able addresses on such occasions, uttered as they were with a practiced finger resting upon the financial and commercial pulse of the continent, were read by Wall Street and London as eagerly as by the public men and bankers of his own country.”
Sir George Drummond was married twice. In 1857 he wedded Helen, daughter of John Redpath, and following her demise he was married in 1884 to Mrs. Grace Julia Hamilton, the widow of George Hamilton and a daughter of A. Davidson Parker, a Montreal pioneer. Two sons of the first marriage, Huntly R. and Arthur L., are living. The former succeeded his father as president of the Canada Sugar Refining Company, Ltd., and is ex-president of the Montreal Board of Trade; while the latter is actively identified with the Canada Sugar Refining Company, Ltd. One son, Guy, of the second marriage, is living and is a resident of Montreal.
The death of Sir George Drummond occurred February 2, 1910, removing from the stage of Canadian activity one of its most prominent and honored figures. He was a member of the St. James Club, the Rideau Club of Ottawa, the Reform Club of London, England, and the Manhattan Club of New York.
Sir George and Lady Drummond were in entire sympathy in their benevolent work. He was the founder of the Home for Incurables in Montreal, which was opened in 1894 under the charge of the Sisters of St. Margaret, and Lady Drummond bestowed much care and thought on the preparation of the interior of the institution. She has been connected with many societies and movements in Montreal that have to do with the betterment of the people, the city or its conditions. She is president of the Montreal Charity Organization and is actively connected with the Victorian Order of Nurses and with various other bodies. She was also a member of the Quebec Tercentennial celebration in 1908. She was the first president of the local branch of the National Council of Women. She was elected president of the Women’s Canadian Club of Montreal for 1907-8, and Lady Aberdeen places her “at the head of the Canadian sisterhood for activity in ‘promoting all that is true and just and beautiful among women, and for a consuming hatred for unrighteousness in every form.’” She presented a silver cup for competition by the members of the Royal Montreal Ladies’ Golf Club in 1905. Her name is not unknown in literary circles and among her writings is an essay entitled “Purity of Speech and Accent.” She was the first woman to speak at a public banquet in Montreal, being thus honored in 1898. In 1902 Sir George and Lady Drummond were presented at court.
On the occasion of the visit of our present King and Queen to Canada as Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York Lady Drummond drew up and presented an address to Her Royal Highness on behalf of the National Council of Women of Canada, while Sir George Drummond at the same time presented to His Royal Highness the citizens’ commemorative medal. Lady Aberdeen has characterized Lady Drummond as “a woman of distinguished presence, with great personal charm, gifts of rare eloquence and the power of clothing her thoughts in most expressive language.” She is a member of the Anglican church, to which Sir George also belonged.
Sir George was much interested in agriculture and the breeding of fine stock. Huntlywood, his magnificent country place at Beaconsfield, was one of the finest country estates on the continent. He took great pride in its well kept condition, his private golf links affording an opportunity for indulgence in a recreation that he was fond of. He kept only the finest live stock that he could procure. His first Southdown sheep were bred from stock he secured from King Edward. In live-stock breeding Sir George aimed to maintain the same high standard of excellence that characterized everything he did. His stock nearly always won first prize at the big stock shows in Canada and the United States, where he met in competition the most noted breeders of his day. Sir George also maintained a beautiful country house, Gads Hill, at Cacouna, now the summer home of Lady Drummond. He took a most deep and helpful interest in all those things which promote the aesthetic and moral nature of the individual and which act as broadening and uplifting influences in the lives of all. He was the owner of one of the finest galleries of paintings on the American continent and was for some time president of the Art Association of Montreal. It is said of him that he “derived greater pleasure in pinning a badge to the breast of a member of the Victorian Order of Nurses and wishing a hearty God-speed to that devoted agent of good than in talking in millions around the directors’ table of the Bank of Montreal.” He was a knight commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George and his character and his ability made his presence an honor in any gathering.
High encomiums were passed upon him by various members of the senate when he was called from this life on the 2d of February, 1910. One of the local papers said: “Flags flying at half-mast from many of the chief public and commercial buildings of the city yesterday testified at once to the extent of the interests with which Sir George A. Drummond was in his life connected, and to the respect in which he was held for his character, his ability and his public services.” The council of the Board of Trade, of which he had been president, said he was “long regarded as Montreal’s most eminent citizen and one of the oldest and most distinguished members of this board.” Senator Lougheed said that he “doubted if any other name had been more closely linked with the industrial life of Canada during the early part of the present generation than that of Sir George Drummond. Not only has he been associated with the material development of Canada, but he was equally a supporter of the arts and sciences and the great sociological questions of this progressive age. In 1903 he was the recipient of very distinguished honors at the hands of his sovereign on account of the eminent public services which he had rendered Canada. His name should long be revered in Montreal, where it was identified with the great commercial, educational and philanthropic institutions.” Senator Dandurand said of Sir George: “He was esteemed in Montreal as a liberal-minded man who did his utmost to maintain good understanding between the races in that city, always showing an earnest desire to promote harmony. He was a benefactor of all institutions that needed private help and will be missed by the community at large, as he was whole-souled, kind-hearted and one who played a most important role in all the affairs of the city.”