Date Published:
September 2007

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

R. B. Angus

President Bank of Montreal. Montreal, Que.

R. B. ANGUS, Montreal, was born at Bathgate, Scotland, May 28th, 1831. At an early age he left Scotland and entered the service of the Manchester and Liverpool Bank. He came to Montreal in 1857 and took a position on the staff of the Bank of Montreal. He advanced steadily in the service of Canada's chief banking institution, and in 1862 took charge of the Chicago agency, a few years later proceeding to New York, as one of the agents of the bank at that city. From New York he returned to Montreal as local manager and became general manager. In 1879 he retired from the service of the bank to assume a position in the management of the St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba Railway. In 1880 he associated himself with George Stephens, Donald A. Smith and others to form the syn­dicate for the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway, and how the great Canadian under­taking was carried out to completion in 1885 is a matter of history. Mr. Angus returned to Montreal to reside in the year 1881. His town residence is on Drummond Street and he has a country home on the lake of the Two Mountains, near St. Anne. Mr. Angus is a generous patron of art, is an ex-president of the Montreal Art Association, and has a good collection of paintings.

He has devoted considerable time, and with good effect, to charitable work in Montreal, particularly to that in connection with the Royal Victoria Hospital of which splendid institution he is a former president. He is also a director of the Montreal Sailor's Institute, and a past president of St. Andrews Society. He is connected with McGill University as a member of the Board of Governors, is a governor and ex-president of the Fraser Institute and a governor of the Montreal Numismatic and Antiquarian Society.

He is president of the Bank of Montreal, director of the Canadian Pacific Railway Co., Dominion Bridge Company, the North West Land Company, the Laurentide Company, etc. R. B. Angus was married in 1857 to Miss Mary Daniels, who died 13th of March, 1913, they were the parents of nine children.

Mr. Angus is a member of the St. James and Mount Royal Clubs, Montreal; Forest & Stream Club, Dorval; Royal St. Lawrence Yacht Club; Rideau Club, Ottawa; Toronto Club, York Club, Toronto; and Manitoba Club, Winnipeg, is also a Knight of Grace of the order of St. John of Jerusalem.

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. 7. Proper French spelling has been restored.