Not only is Henry Holgate one of the foremost civil engineers of Montreal, but he is also an author of no mean talents on professional and other subjects. He is now engaged in private practice after a long and strenuous career with various large organizations and of late has designed and built several large hydraulic power plants for transmission of electric power. He is a member of several arbitration committees, a past vice president of the Canadian Society of Civil Engineers, a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers and a councillor of the American Institute of Consulting Engineers.
Mr. Holgate is of English ancestry and was born at Milton, Ontario, September 14, 1863, the seventh son of John and Jane (Browne) Holgate, the former of whom was in charge of the division court at Milton. Judge Holgate passed away in 1896 and his wife in 1902.
Henry Holgate was educated in the Toronto public schools and after having completed his studies served an apprenticeship with the Northern Railway of Canada, which lasted for five years. He continued with them for three years and became their chief engineer in 1884, so continuing until 1893, when he took charge of the Central Bridge Company’s works at Peterboro, Ontario. During this time, in 1887, he became a member of the Canadian Society of Civil Engineers, contributing a paper to its transactions for which he was awarded the Gzowski medal. He remained with the Central Bridge Company for about a year and then joined the Royal Electrical Company in Montreal as engineer in charge of the steel plants and general construction. The years 1896, 1897 and 1898 were spent that way, and he then became engineer of the Montreal Park & Island Company, constructing and managing all their lines. He then went as manager and engineer to Kingston, Jamaica, and constructed all of the works of the Western Electric Company there, returning to Canada in 1900. He established himself in a private engineering practice in that year and in 1902 formed a partnership with Mr. Ross, under the firm name of Ross & Holgate, consulting engineers. This partnership was dissolved in 1911.
Mr. Holgate has on various occasions been retained by the federal and provincial governments for special engineering inquiries and reports. He was so retained in regard to the reorganization of the Trent Valley Canal works and was appointed chairman of the royal commission to report on the collapse of the Quebec bridge in September, 1907. He is widely recognized as one of the able men along his line and has had charge in late years of the building of several large hydraulic power plants.
Occasionally Mr. Holgate contributes interesting articles to technical works. He is the author of an exhaustive paper on Northeast Canada, which was published in 1908, and he has lectured extensively, one of his subjects being “Some Facts Regarding the Upper St. Lawrence.”
Mr. Holgate is independent in his political views and nonsectarian in his religious belief. He is a patriotic Canadian and has always at heart the interests of the Dominion. He believes in a Canada for Canadians and for any others who will become good citizens, recognizing the value of desirable immigration.
On September 19, 1888, Mr. Holgate was married to Miss Bessie Bell Headley, a daughter of Edward Headley, of Milford, Delaware. They have two sons, Henry Watson and Edwin Headley. The family residence is at No. 44 Rosemount Avenue, Westmount. He is a member of the Engineers Club of Montreal.
LEGLEUS ANTOINE GAGNIER, M. D.
Dr. Légléus Antoine Gagnier is widely and favorably known to the public as a general medical practitioner and more specifically in connection with the special work which he does in treating nervous diseases by electrical methods. He is a man who has never ceased to be a student and still frequently makes trips to Europe in order to attend the clinics conducted by the most eminent specialists in the profession. There is no new phase brought out in the world of medicine with which he is not thoroughly acquainted and which he does not thoroughly understand, and his complete knowledge has naturally resulted in a large and lucrative practice. Freeing himself from many of the old medical prejudices he applies modern thought in his treatments and more closely follows his own logical conclusions than book prescriptions. He believes that in numerous cases massage treatments, X-Rays, light baths and general hydrotherapy will achieve more beneficial and lasting results than the older treatment of giving medicaments internally. His well equipped offices, modernly appointed and filled with all the appliances necessary to follow out his methods, are located at No. 256 St. Denis Street, Montreal, and there ever can be found a long line of patients, rich and poor, old and young, waiting to be admitted for treatment.