Hugh Allan

For other people named Hugh Allan, seeHugh Allan (disambiguation).

Sir Hugh Allan
Allan in 1871
Born	(1810-09-29)29 September 1810 Saltcoats,North Ayrshire, Scotland, UK
Died	9 December 1882(1882-12-09)(aged 72) Edinburgh,Scotland, UK
Occupation	Businessman
Known for	Allan Shipping LineofMontreal
Spouse	Matilda Caroline Smith (m. 1844; d. 1881)
Children	13, includingSir Montagu Allan

Sir Hugh Allan(September 29, 1810 – December 9, 1882) was aScottish-Canadianshipping magnate,financier andcapitalist.By the time of his death, theAllan Shipping Linehad become the largest privately owned shipping empire in the world. He was responsible for transporting millions of British immigrants to Canada, and the businesses that he established fromMontrealfiltered across every sphere of Canadian life, cementing his reputation as an empire builder. His home,Ravenscrag,was the principal residence of theGolden Square Milein Montreal.

Early years in Scotland

Born atSaltcoatsinNorth Ayrshire,Scotland, he was the second son of CaptainAlexander Allanand Jean Crawford (1782–1856). He was a first cousin ofSir Alexander Tilloch Galt,and his father was a first cousin of the Scottishbard,Robert Burns.In 1819, Allan's father established theAllan Shipping Line,which became synonymous with transporting goods and passengers between Scotland and Montreal. Allan received a parish education at Saltcoats before starting work in 1823 at the family'scounting houseof Allan, Kerr & Co., ofGreenock.Three years later, he was sent by his father to Montreal to work as a clerk for agrain merchant,William Kerr. In 1830, he took a year off to travel through his native Scotland (he later named his home, Ravenscrag, after his favourite childhood haunt inAyrshire) and continued via London, New York andUpper Canada.

Rise of the Allan Line at Montreal

The offices of H & A Allan by the Montreal harbour (built in 1863)

Returning to Montreal in 1831, Allan became a commission merchant with one of the city's leading importers, who had also acted as the Montreal agent for his family's company, J & A Allan, back in Scotland. Concentrating on shipping, shipbuilding and purchasing grain, Allan advanced rapidly, aided by capital raised and contacts gained through family connections, as well as social bonds he developed himself in the predominantly Scottish business community at Montreal. By 1835, Allan was made a partner in the firm that from then was known as Millar, Edmonstone & Co. With his father's encouragement and capital, Allan expanded the company's shipping operations, and J & A Allan (then headed by his elder brother, James, inGlasgow) became closely involved with building of themerchant fleet.By the time (1839) Hugh's younger brother,Andrew,had joined now Edmonstone, Allan & Co., it had the largest shipping capacity of any Montreal-based firm.

By the 1850s, Edmonstone & Allan was described by a credit-rating service as an "old, safe and respectable House... one of the wealthiest concerns inthe Province",known for its responsible management and its links to trading houses in London,Liverpool,andGlasgow.Helped by Allan's spreading influence into allied shipping, railway and banking concerns, the firm was "as good as a bank". From 1863, the company became known as H & A Allan, of Montreal — one segment, but an important and intricate part of theAllan family's empire.

The Allan Royal Mail Line

TheCanadian,1855; along with theIndian,these superior ships helped Allan to secure the Royal Mail contract in 1856

In 1851, Hugh Allan had been elected President of theMontreal Board of Trade.As an entrepreneur and the chosen head of Montreal's business community, he used this position to advocate for the establishment of a regular government-subsidised steamship line between Britain, Montreal andPortland.The service, Allan declared, would deliverRoyal Mailto both sides of the Atlantic Ocean while transporting immigrants to North America. Though it was Allan's idea, competition for the contract was fierce. Despite significant support on both sides of the Atlantic and careful preparation, Allan lost the bid in 1853. However, the consortium that won the contract, headed bySamuel Cunard,ran into trouble almost immediately and Allan reacted by building more ships on theClyde,using superior technology (notably theCanadianand theIndian). These ships formed the nucleus of Allan'sMontreal Ocean Steamship Company,incorporated by him and his brother,Andrew,in 1856. It was carefully created to be Canadian, but it was inextricably linked (and financed) by the Allan family in Scotland.In 1856, with the help of conservative politicians such as SirJohn Rose,SirGeorge-Étienne CartierandLewis Drummond,the Montreal Ocean Steamship Company (popularly referred to as theAllan Line) wrested back the contract fromSamuel Cunard.By 1859, service was weekly, and Allan reported his capital investment in the company at £3.5 million.

Beyond mail and emigrating passengers, the Allan Line carriedroyalty(converting one of its ships with no expense nor detail to attention spared), troops (in theCrimeanandZuluwars), general cargo, manufactured goods and much needed Canadian wheat to Britain. After theVictoria Bridgeopened in 1859, Allan became dependent on theGrand Trunk Railwayand signed a ten-year deal with them. But he soon became frustrated with the railway when he wanted them to triple their deliveries from theAmerican Midwest,and he felt threatened by the railway's plans to form a steamship line of its own with rival firms in New York andBoston.By 1873, Allan expressed "a desire to protect ourselves".

Railways and the Pacific Scandal

At the same time that Allan was falling out with theGrand Trunk Railway,the Canadian government had committed to building a railway across toBritish Columbia.Though slow to move into the railway business, by the 1870s, Allan had become Canada's most flamboyant railway entrepreneur. He helped to place trusted colleagues (such as his lawyerJohn Abbott,agentLouis Beaubienand the politicianJohn Hamilton) in senior positions with railways connected to the venture. Allan himself invested heavily, particularly in those that would link the Port of Montreal to theCanadian West,and he became president of the Montreal Northern Colonization Railway in 1871. Garnering the support ofFrench-Canada(helped in a large part by his relationship withAntoine Labelle), Allan's railway gained major benefits inQuebec,including a $1 million subscription from theCity of Montreal.Allan was reckoned the most influentialcapitalistin 1870s Canada, and having staved off American interest in the Pacific Railway, he was the logical choice for winning the contract.

He created asyndicateto build thenational railway,promised as a condition ofBritish ColumbiajoiningConfederation.To ensure the contract, he bribedPrime MinisterSirJohn A. Macdonald,subscribing over $350,000 for Macdonald's re-election campaign in 1872, but thePacific Scandal(and Macdonald's defeat) ended his dreams of supremacy in the railway business. However, through his bank, the Merchant's Bank of Canada, he still financed and maintained a vested interest in many of the Canadian railway companies.

Merchant's Bank of Canada

Merchant's Bank Building on St. James Street,Montreal,1870

While still in his thirties, Allan became a director of theBank of Montrealand remained on the board for ten years (1847–57). He also held significant shares in the Commercial Bank of Canada, theBank of Upper Canada,the Maritime Bank of the Dominion of Canada, and the City Bank of Montreal. He was a director of the Montreal Credit Company and president of the Provincial Permanent Building Society, which became the Provincial Loan Company in 1875. Allan founded Merchant's Bank of Canada in Montreal in 1864, with a capital of $6.78 million and a reserve fund of $6.8 million.

To service his financial needs and as a source of capital, Allan established the Merchant's Bank of Canada. Run as a family business, it was chartered in 1861 but did not open until 1864. Allan served as president of the bank until his death, when he was succeeded by his brother, Andrew. The bank soon became known as one of Canada's most aggressive. They took over the failing Commercial Bank of Canada, and by the mid-1870s had branches in New York and London.

Allan's association with the bank facilitated his growth in other profitable ventures. Allan had interests in new communications technology,manufacturing,and mining.In 1852, he became president of theMontreal Telegraph Company,ultimately selling MTC's "telephone plant" toBell Telephonefor $75,000.He also established coal mines inNova Scotiaand factories for textiles, shoes, paper, tobacco, and iron and steel in Central Canada. The Merchants Bank Building on 92-94 Water Street,Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island,built in 1871, is on the Registry of Historical Places of Canada.

Ravenscrag

Ravenscrag,Allan's home in Montreal'sGolden Square Mile,completed in 1863

Thedrawing roomat Ravenscrag

In 1860, Allan bought part of the estate ofSimon McTavishand demolished the old manor house to make way for his new home,Ravenscrag,a sumptuousItalian Renaissancestyle house and the principal residence of theGolden Square Mile.The house, which surpassedDundurn Castlein scale and grandeur, was completed in three years in 1863, and the ballroom alone could comfortably accommodate several hundred guests.

After his death in 1882, his second son,Sir Montagu Allan,lived in the house. In 1940, he donated it to theRoyal Victoria Hospital, Montreal.The Allans entertainedPrince Arthur of Connaught,Lord Lisgar,theEarl of Dufferin,Viscount Wolseley,and others.

Marriage and children

Lady Allan, byWilliam Notman

At Montreal on August 13, 1844, Allan married Matilda Caroline Smith (1828–1881), the eldest of the four daughters of Betsy Rea and her husband John Smith (d. 1872) of Athelstane Hall, Montreal. John Smith was a native ofAthelstanefordin Scotland and became one of Montreal's leading dry goods merchants. Caroline's sister, Isabella, married Allan's brotherAndrewin 1848. Her two other sisters married respectively Hartland St. Clair MacDougall (brother ofGeorge Campbell MacDougall) and James St. George Bellhouse, of the firm of Bellhouse & Dillon. Lady Allan died in Montreal in June 1881, aged 53.

They were the parents of nine daughters and four sons, including:

• Alexander Rea Allan (2 Aug 1845 – 29 Jun 1901), who "was not cut out for business". He married Eva Belford Travers, daughter of John N. Travers and a niece ofGeneralJames Travers,V.C.The couple lived with their son, (Hugh) Travers, at 112 King Street inBrockville, Ontario,where he managed theBank of Montrealoffice.
• Elizabeth Allan (9 Oct 1847 - 12 June 1921) married Asst-Surgeon (later Brigade-Surgeon) George Carson Gribbon, MB (1836-1894) in May 1867 while his regiment, the 25th (King's Own Borderers) Regiment of Foot, was garrisoned in Montreal. They had five children.
• Jane Crawford Allan (9 July 1849- 6 May 1931), married 21 Oct 1867, Asst-Surgeon (later Major) Thomas Dodd Milburne, whose regiment, the 13th Hussars, was stationed in Canada from 1866 to 1869.
• Phoebe Mary Allan (1852–1904), married on March 1, 1877, Sir George LauderdaleHoustoun-Boswall,3rd Bart., grandson of GeneralSir William Houston, 1st Baronet.Lady Houstoun-Boswall was the mother of one daughter and two sons.
• Matilda Isabella Allan (1854–1932), died unmarried.
• Florence Adelaide Allan (1857–1942), married businessman Alfred H. White ofQuebec City,and following his death, Major General J.F. Wilson. The White daughters, Gladys and Eileen, both married sons of John Ogilvie, brother ofWilliam Watson Ogilvieand one of the founders of Ogilvie Mills. Gladys married Capt.(later Brig. Gen.) Alexander Thomas Ogilvie, and Eileen married realtor Douglas Watson Ogilvie. Dorothy White married Montreal lawyer, John Wilson Cook.
• Margaret Macfie Allan (1858–1939), married veterinarian Dr. Charles McEachran (1864–1919) of Montreal.
• Sir Montagu Allan(1860–1951), vice-chairman of the Allan Line, President of the Merchants Bank. Principal heir of his father, he inheritedRavenscragand married, in 1893, Marguerite Ethel Mackenzie. Their four children, includingMartha Allan,predeceased them.
• Bryce James Allan (1862–1924), managed the Allan Line fromBoston.He was educated atBishop's College Schooland in France and Germany. He lived at "Allanbank" near Boston (now known as Tupper Manor and part ofEndicott College). In 1896, he married Anna, daughter of GeneralFrancis Winthrop Palfreyof Boston.
• Edythe Maud Allan (1863–1946), married (James) Turner Routledge (d. 1899). They purchased one of her father's farms, "Belmere" in Georgetown, Quebec, and were the parents of two sons, Lieut. Allan (d. 1916) and Maj. James Colin (d. 1977).
• Mabel Gertrude Allan (1867–1955), married Colin Augustus Monk Campbell (1860–1926), Seigneur deRouville.He was the son of MajorThomas Edmund Campbelland Henriette-Julie, daughter of CaptainMichel-Louis Juchereau Duchesnay.They lived at Manoir Rouville-Campbell in St. Hilaire, Quebec. Two children survived infancy: Enid Margaret (Mrs. Joseph C. Wray), and Phoebe Duchesnay.
• Arthur Edward Allan (1871–1893), died young in an accidental fire.

Final years

In 1871, Allan was created aKnight BachelorbyQueen Victoriafor his services in connection with the development of ocean steam navigation in Canada.In December 1882, not long after the death of his wife, he died inEdinburghwhile visiting his son-in-law, Sir GeorgeHoustoun-Boswall.

At his death, he was one of the richest men in the world, with a fortune estimated to be between £8 million and £12 millionpounds.His remains were brought back to Montreal, and he was buried with his family at theMount Royal Cemetery.The Allan family's Canadian enterprises, almost entirely built by Hugh, were continued by his brother,Andrew Allan.

Bibliography

• Biography of Hugh Allan

External links

• Works by or about Hugh Allanat theInternet Archive
• History of the Allan Line (1819-1917)
• Scottish Biography of Sir Hugh Allan
• Photograph:Ravenscrag, Sir Hugh's Montreal home built in 1863- McCord Museum
• Photograph:Ravenscrag, showing the conservatory- McCord Museum
• Photograph:The view from Ravenscrag in 1869- McCord Museum
• Biography of Sir Hugh's father, with a picture of his brother James Allan (1808-1880)
• Photograph:Sir Hugh Allan, 1864- McCord Museum
• Photograph:Sir Hugh Allan, 1865- McCord Museum
• Photograph:Sir Hugh Allan, 1871- McCord Museum
• Photograph:Sir Hugh Allan, 1879- McCord Museum