Vincent Meredith
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Sir Henry Vincent Meredith, 1st and last Baronet of Montreal (February 28, 1850 - February 24, 1929), was a Canadian banker and President of the Bank of Montreal and the Royal Trust Company.
Born in Westminster Township, Upper Canada (now the Province of Ontario), he was the fifth son of John Walsingham Cooke Meredith (1809-1881) J.P., of London, an Irishman who'd settled in Upper Canada, by his wife Sarah (1819-1900), daughter of Anthony Pegler, a native of Gloucesterhire who'd also emigrated to Canada. One of his great uncle’s, Boyle Meredith (1788-1873), married Eliza Vincent, and it was after her family that he was given his middle name, which he used as his first. Eliza (d.1870), was the daughter of The Rev. George Vincent J.P., of Shanagolden House, Co. Limerick, by his wife Eliza, the daughter of Joseph Gubbins (1742-1815) of Maidstown Castle, Co. Limerick.
In 1867, Meredith joined the Bank of Montreal as a clerk and rose through the ranks to become the first Canadian born president of the bank from 1913 to 1927, when he was appointed chairman of the board. As president, his office was at the bank's headquarters at 119 St. James Street in Montreal, Quebec. Amongst many other positions, Vincent Meredith was a member of the Montreal Board of Trade, a member of the Board of Directors of Canadian Pacific Railway, a director of the Standard Life Assurance Company of Edinburgh, Governor of McGill University, President of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, and President of the Royal Victoria Hospital. He was created a hereditary Baronet of the United Kingdom by King George V in 1916. The Montreal Gazette said of him :
Outwardly stern and commanding in appearance, he was really kind-hearted, considerate and tolerant. No situation ever deprived him of his poise. He never gave way to violent anger, preferring the rapier to the bludgeon as a weapon. A flash of his eye and a sarcastic phrase was sufficient to puncture conceit, rebuke stupidity or quell insubordination
His marriage in 1888 to (Isabella) Brenda Allan (1867-1959), the youngest daughter of Andrew Allan, President of the Allan Shipping Line (after his brother), and a niece of Sir Hugh Allan, gave him additional wealth and powerful connections. As a wedding gift, his father-in-law gave him a parcel of land across from Ravenscrag (Sir Hugh Allan's home) on the corner of Pine Avenue and Peel Street, Montreal. In 1894 he employed the architect Edward Maxwell to build him there "Ardvarna", a turreted, red brick mansion.
Brenda Meredith donated the 'Lady Meredith Cup' in 1920, the first ice hockey trophy to be competed for in Canada between women in ankle-length skirts. Amongst other positions, she served as president of the Purple Cross (a service for the care of wounded and disabled horses on the battlefield during World War One), a director of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, vice President of the Women’s National Immigration Society, and was a high ranking member of the Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire. She was a member and benefactor of the Presbyterian Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul, Montreal.
Sir Vincent Meredith was a generous philanthropist. A founding member of the Canadian Mental Health Association he served on its Board of Directors and was one of its benefactors. In 1909 he gave the Royal Victoria Hospital (where he solely sponsored an annual ball for the nurses) an automobile, Canada's first motor ambulance, but as with all his gifts and donations, refused to allow anything of it to be mentioned in the papers. He also started the 'Sir Vincent Meredith Fund', which was set up for the female employees of the Bank Of Montreal to relieve them in a financial crisis. It is still in operation today. Sir Vincent took every opportunity to relieve suffering in Montreal and advance that city.
The Merediths shared a keen interest in horses. Vincent hunted and played polo, and they both imported many fine horses from Ireland and England. They also had a great interest in music and art and were one of the most enthusaistic supporters of grand opera in Montreal.
Sir Vincent Meredith died in 1929 without issue and as such his Baronetcy became extinct. His wife continued to live in their home until 1941 when she gifted it to the Royal Victoria Hospital to use as a nurses' residence. McGill University acquired the use of the property in 1975 and today it is known as Lady Meredith House, home to the McGill Centre for Medicine, Ethics, and Law.
Sir Vincent and Lady Meredith are buried in a plot reserved for the Meredith family at Mount Royal Cemetery, Montreal. Buried there also is one of his younger brothers, Charles Meredith (1854-1928), with his wife Elspeth Hudson Angus (1858-1936). The other member of the family buried within the plot is a son of Vincent's father's first cousin, and a close friend of both of the brothers', Frederick Edmund Meredith (1862-1941) K.C.
