Date Published:
March 2005

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

Sir Byron Edmund Walker

Walker, Sir Byron Edmund (1848-1924), president of the Canadian Bank of Commerce (1907-24), was born in Seneca township, Haldimand county, Upper Canada, on October 14, 1848, the son of Alfred E. Walker. He entered the service of the Canadian Bank of Commerce in 1868; in 1886 he became general manager of the bank; and in 1907 its president. He wrote a History of Canadian banking (Toronto, 1896) ; he published a large number of pamphlets and addresses on banking and kindred subjects; and he was regarded as an outstanding authority on financial questions. He had, however, a wide range of other interests. He was a well-known art connoisseur, and had much to do with establishing the National Art Gallery in Ottawa, of the board of which he became chairman; he was one of the founders of the Champlain Society, and its first president; for many years he was honorary president of the Mendelssohn Choir, of Toronto; and in 1898 he was elected president of the Canadian Institute. From 1910 to 1923 he was chairman of the board of governors of the University of Toronto ; and in 1923 he was elected its chancellor. He died, at Toronto, on March 27, 1924. In 1874 he married Mary (d. 1923), daughter of Alexander Alexander, of Hamilton, Ontario ; and by her he had four sons and three daughters. In 1908 he was created a C.V.O., and in 1910 a knight bachelor. In 1911 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. See G. P. de T. Glazebrook, Sir Edmund Walker (Oxford, 1933).

Source  : W. Stewart WALLACE, ed., The Encyclopedia of Canada, Vol. VI, Toronto, University Associates of Canada, 1948, 398p., pp. 251-252.