Donald Alexander Smith, 1st Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal, was a Canadian politician, diplomat, philanthropist, and business leader with extensive interests in the fur trade, railroads, and banking.
Background
Smith was born on August 6, 1820, in Moray, Scotland. He was the second son of Alexander Smith (1786-1841) and his wife Barbara Stuart, daughter of Donald Stuart of Leanchoil, Upper Strathspey, descended from Murdoch Stewart, 2nd Duke of Albany. His father, whose family had lived at Archiestown Cottage as crofters at Knockando, became a saddler at Forres after trying his hand at farming and soldiering. Donald was also a first cousin of the successful and notably philanthropic Grant brothers of Manchester, who were reputedly immortalised as the "Cheeryble Brothers" in Charles Dickens' book, Nicholas Nickleby. Donald's mother was the sister of the Canadian explorer John Stuart, partner of the North West Company who rose to become Chief Factor of the Hudson's Bay Company.
Education
Smith was educated at Anderson's Free School and on leaving at age sixteen he was apprenticed to become a lawyer in the offices of Robert Watson, Town Clerk of Forres.
Career
The first Riel rebellion (1869-1870) made Smith famous. Because of Hudson's Bay Company influence, Smith was sent to Red River to negotiate with Louis Riel, leader of the resistance. His impact, although considerable, was not decisive. Smith's confidential report on the rising remains a standard source for students.
In 1870 he secured appointment to the Executive Council of the Northwest Territories and was elected to Manitoba's Assembly. He later sat for Montreal West (1887-1896).
During the 1870s Smith became a leading railroader. With several partners, including George Stephen, president of the Bank of Montreal, he purchased the St. Paul-Minneapolis and Manitoba Railway Company and became the firm's vice president. The line gained Smith experience and great wealth. In 1880 he and Stephen dominated the syndicate organized to construct the Canadian Pacific Railway. Tough, proud, unscrupulous, and autocratic, Smith amassed a huge fortune.
During the Boer War he equipped, as his personal contribution, a famous mounted regiment, the "Strathcona Horse. " Honors were showered upon him, and he was appointed to the Canadian Privy Council in 1896 and to the Imperial Privy Council in 1904. In 1897 he joined the British peerage as Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal.
Achievements
Membership
Members of the Temporary North-West Council (1872), member of Parliament, member of the Imperial Privy Council (1904)
Connections
In 1853, Smith married Isabella Sophia Hardisty (1825-1913), daughter of Richard Hardisty (1790-1865), Chief Trader of the Hudson's Bay Company, and Margaret Sutherland (1802-1876), daughter of the Rev. John Sutherland, a native of Caithness who lived at Lachine, Quebec.