WILL. H. WHYTE.
Will. H. Whyte, prominent and successful in the insurance profession and an eminent representative of Masonry in Canada, was born in Montreal, March 15, 1850, the eldest son of the late James Whyte of “The Greenlaw,” Paisley, Scotland, and Annie Gray (Shanks) Whyte, whose girlhood home was at Berwick on Tweed.
Will. H. Whyte became a student at the Montreal Collegiate school and entered business circles in connection with the wholesale dry-goods house of Ogilvy & Company. The steps in his orderly progression are easily discernible and his course has been marked by a continuous advance along lines of constantly broadening activity and usefulness. For six years he was business manager of the Montreal Herald when the Hon. Peter Mitchell was the principal owner and president. Since 1897 his attention has been given to the insurance business, and his constantly expanding powers have brought him into prominent relations with the profession. He is now secretary-treasurer and underwriter of the Royal Marine Insurance Company of Montreal.
His business connections alone would entitle him to distinction, yet he has, perhaps, an even wider acquaintance through his Masonic associations. Indeed, few Canadian Masons are better known throughout the Masonic world. He was initiated in Prince Consort Lodge, No. 52, and was installed worshipful master in December, 1876. He was elected to a number of important offices in the grand lodge and became grand secretary of the grand lodge of Quebec in January, 1902. He has passed through the various branches of Royal Arch Masonry and was grand first principal Z. of the grand chapter of Quebec, holding the office for the years 1888-9. He has held the office of grand scribe E. from 1893. He received the Cryptic degrees and has been illustrious grand master of the grand council of the maritime provinces. He was knighted as a Knight Templar in 1882 and was supreme grand master in 1895 and 1896 of the sovereign great priory of Canada and has been grand chancellor since 1897. He was the second Knight Templar to be elected an honorary member of the grand encampment, K. T., of the United States at the triennial conclave in Chicago in 1910. He is a member of the Ancient Arabic Order of the Mystic Shrine and of the Royal Order of Scotland. The many important offices he has held, as well as his reviews and historical sketches have brought him very prominently before the Masonic craft for many years.
In former years Mr. Whyte was an active athlete and supporter of amateur athletics. He was one of the founders and is the historian of the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association. He has also served as one of its directors. He was likewise president of the Montreal Lacrosse Club in 1885-6; was vice president and secretary for six years of the Montreal Snowshoe Club; is one of the oldest members of the Dominion Commercial Travelers’ Association; is a life member of the Caledonian Society; a member of St. Andrew’s Society; and of the Board of Trade of Montreal.
On the 3d of January, 1882, Mr. Whyte married Almeda Garratt, a daughter of the late Captain Robert Nelson Garratt of Kingston, Ontario, a representative of one of the families longest connected with the history of the city of Kingston. They are members of the American Presbyterian church, and they delight in dispensing the hospitality of their home at No. 4290 Western Avenue, Westmount.
JAMES PATON.
James Paton, a well known citizen of Montreal, died November 17, 1905. He was born in this city in 1853, a son of Laird Paton, a distinguished citizen of Montreal, who was at the head of the firm of Laird Paton & Sons, contractors.