Date Published:
December 2007

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

W. Grant Morden

Financier of London, England, and Montreal, Quebec

Vice-President, Canada Securities Corporation, Ltd.

and director in many large Canadian Corporations.

W. GRANT MORDEN, financier, director in numerous Canadian corporations and prominent in financial circles in London, England, and Montreal, was born July 20th, 1880, in Prince Edward County, Ontario, a son of the late Capt. W. H. Morden, of United Empire Loyalist ancestry, and Sarah Anne Peterson Morden, a descendant of Col. Clowes of the Royal Engineers, who was associated with Col. By in the building of the Rideau Canal, and " Bytown," now Ottawa, the capital of Canada. He was educated in Toronto at the Collegiate Institute and Upper Canada College, and commenced the study of law, but subsequently went into the manufacturing business. Finding financial matters more interesting to him, and from the experience gained in financing his manufacturing enterprises, he decided to give his undivided attention to financial affairs, choosing London, England, as his headquarters, where he maintains offices at 14 Cornhill, London, E. C., and also at Montreal, Canada. Amongst the various and important corporations with which Mr. Morden is connected is that of director of the Richelieu and Ontario Navigation Company; vice-president of Canada Securities Corporation, Montreal; director, Murray-Kay Limited, Toronto; :director, Prudential Trust Company; director Mexican Mahogany and Rubber Corporation, Ltd.; director, New Orleans Southern Railway Co.; director New Orleans and Grand Isle Railway Light and Power Co.; director, Pacific Coast Coal Mines, Ltd.; Collingwood Ship Building Co., Ltd., and many other sterling enterprises.

He is a member of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in London, a fellow of the Institute of Directors, London, Eng., and a life governor of the Montreal General Hospital. It has to be noted that he is also an officer in the Sixth Duke of Connaught Royal Canadian Huzzars.

His country seat in England is " Heatherden," Iver Heath, Buckinghampshire, a delightful section of the mother country, where he takes a keen interest in his horses and thoroughbred cattle, and raises Borgois and Deerhounds.

In the groups of the younger generation of Canadian financiers and capitalists Mr. Morden occupies a unique position, not only as regards advancement, but in all that pertains to the development and progress of the Dominion.

Mr. Morden was married Nov. 17th, 1909,. to Doris Henshaw, daughter of Charles G. Henshaw, of Vancouver, B. C., formerly of Montreal, and they have two children, Patricia Doris Henshaw Morden and Barbara Evelyn Henshaw Morden.

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. 123.