Date Published:
April 2008

L’Encyclopédie de l’histoire du Québec / The Quebec History Encyclopedia

Charles F. Smithers

Late President of the Bank of Montreal, Canada.

CHARLES F. SMITHERS was born in London, England, in 1822, and at a very early age entered the banking business, later becoming associated with the Bank of British North America. In 1847, he went to Montreal as accountant for that bank. He served seven years in Montreal as accountant and sub-manager and then became manager of their branch at Brantford, Ontario, and after two and a half years he was advanced to the office of manager of their bank at St. John, N. B. June 1st, 1858, he became connected with the Bank of Montreal, going to New York City as senior agent of the agency in that city, and continued in that office until May, 1863, at which time he resigned and returned to Montreal taking charge of the branch of the London and Colonial Bank. He again took up his residence in New York City three years later, and became a private banker in that city. In 1869, he rejoined the Bank of Montreal taking the office of Chief Agent at Montreal. Late in the year 1879, Mr. R. B. Angus, general manager of the bank resigned and Mr. Smithers was unanimously called by the directors to accept that office. In June 1881, he was elected president of the bank and filled that important office with great success almost to the day of his death, which occurred in 1887. His son, George Hampden Smithers, now head of the firm of Burnett & Co., stock brokers of Montreal, was born April 7th, 1863, at Brooklyn, N. Y., and obtained his education in the ordinary schools of the city. When his late father went to Montreal, George became a clerk in the Bank of Montreal. In 1881, he associated himself with the stock brokerage house of Burnett & Co., becoming a partner in 1887. On the death of the senior member of the firm, he rose to the head of the institution. George H. Smithers was married in 1890, to Frances C. Cook, and they are the parents of two daughters.

Source: Canadian History Makers. A Volume Containing Accurate and Concise Sketches of Men who have Done Things in The Dominion of Canada Past and Present Together with Photogravures Made from their Latest Photographs, Montreal, Canadian Publication Society, 1913, 159p., p. 99.