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Fonds - John Redpath | McCord Museum
John Redpath
John Redpath

Fonds

John Redpath
Date 1820-1854
Dimensions81 cm of textual records
Object NumberP085
CollectionMcCord
CreditGift of Mrs. Léon Garneau
Biographical Sketch

John Redpath (1796-March 5, 1869) was born in Earlston, Scotland. After training as a stone mason, he emigrated to Canada in 1816. Around 1818, having settled in Montreal, he established his own construction company and became increasingly involved in the Presbyterian parish of Saint Gabriel. On December 19, 1819 he married Janet McPhee (1791-1834) in the parish church, and the couple would go on to have seven children: Elizabeth, or “Betsy” (1819-1883), Peter (1821-1894), Mary (1823-1893), Jane (1825-1828), Helen (1827-1883), Jane Margaret (1829-1897) and John James (1834-1884).

In the years following his first marriage, Redpath worked on a number of projects in the Montreal area. These included establishment of the British military installations on Île Sainte-Hélène, construction of the Lachine Canal and the stonework for Notre-Dame Church. Between 1827 and 1832, he and his partner Thomas McKay were responsible for the construction of a series of locks on the Rideau Canal, an undertaking that obliged Redpath to reside in the region for several years and that ultimately earned him substantial profits.

Once this project was finished, Redpath returned to Montreal and diversified his interests, rising rapidly to become a leading member of the city’s business community. In 1833 he was elected to the board of directors of the Bank of Montreal, and over the following decades he invested in the shipping and mining industries, in several insurance companies and in the Montreal Telegraph Company, as well as acquiring and managing numerous properties, including several located on Mount Royal and bordering the Lachine Canal.

In 1834 Janet McPhee died in a cholera epidemic that had struck Montreal. Later that year Redpath married Jane Drummond (1815-1907), and together they would have ten children: Margaret Pringle (1836-1906), George Drummond (1839-1877), Williamina (1841-1842), Isabella Agnes (1844-1846), Francis Robert (1846-1928), Charles Andrew (1848-1849), Augusta Eleanor (1850-1910), Emily Jane Bonar (1853-1941), Harriet Ina (1854-1858) and William Wood (1858-1881).

During the 1830s and 1840s Redpath took an active part in Montreal’s social and political life. He was a member of the St. Andrew’s Society of Montreal and of the Constitutional Association during the Rebellions of 1837-1838. It was also around this time, in August 1837, that he completed construction of his house Terrace Bank, which occupied a large estate on the slopes of Mount Royal. Between 1840 and 1843 he served on Montreal’s City Council, and he was briefly a member of its Board of Works. In 1849 he was appointed president of the Annexation Association of Montreal, a movement that, though short-lived, was extremely popular among the city’s wealthiest citizens: in response to dissatisfaction among the business community concerning British economic policies toward the colony, it advocated Canada’s annexation to the United States.  

Aside from his business successes and his incursions into politics, Redpath provided financial and often administrative support to a number of Montreal institutions, associations and religious organizations (the latter mostly Presbyterian). These included the Mechanics’ Institute, of which he was president from 1840 to 1843, the Montreal General Hospital, the Temperance Society, the Montreal Presbyterian College, the Presbyterian Canada Foreign Missionary Society, the Presbyterian Labrador Mission, the Magdalene Asylum and the French Canadian Missionary Society. In 1857 he also helped found the Saint James’s Club, of which he would remain a member for the rest of his life. That same year he invested in the construction of the Victoria Bridge (the first bridge to span the Saint Lawrence River), which had been under way since 1854.

The venture for which John Redpath is best known, however, is the establishment in 1854 of the Canada Sugar Refining Company (now Redpath Sugar). Located originally on the banks of the Lachine Canal, the Redpath refinery – the first of its kind in Canada – owed its immediate and remarkable commercial success largely to government economic policies that favoured its business model, which was based on the importation of sugar by sea from the West Indies. After running the enterprise for several years, Redpath gradually handed over the reins to his son Peter and his son-in-law George Alexander Drummond. This process was accelerated in the late 1860s, as his health declined.

John Redpath died on March 5, 1869, in Montreal.

Sources:

Tulchinsky, Gerald. (1977.) “Redpath, John.” In Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Accessed via: http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/redpath_john_9E.html

Feltoe, Richard. (2006). A Gentleman of Substance: The Life and Legacy of John Redpath (1796-1869). Toronto: Dundurn. Accessed via: https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/mcgill/detail.action?docID=3256519


Scope and Content

The John Redpath fonds relates to the subject’s business activities and personal affairs from 1820, shortly after the founding of his first company, to 1854, the year the Canada Sugar Refining Company was established. The fonds contains principally financial documents: account books and ledgers which detail the expenses for the building of the private residences of a few prominent Montrealers, the Montreal General Hospital, the Notre Dame Church and the Rideau Canal; cheque stubs; receipt books which provide details on the costs of construction materials and labour for various projects, mainly for the Rideau Canal; records of labourer's wages for the Rideau Canal; workers' provisions account book; correspondence from employees and businessmen concerning supplies and contracts, Rideau Canal; financial statements, Rideau Canal. His investment transactions, involving real estate, stocks and money lending are documented by account books. Redpath's private records consist of a cash account book; records of household expenses; and servants wages.

(Source: Guide to Archival Resources at McGill University: Private Papers at McGill University. McGill University Archives. 1985. Vol. 2, p.182-183.)

 


Notes

Source of title: Based on the content of the fonds.

Immediate source of acquisition: The fonds was acquired in two parts, from the Museum’s original collection and from Mrs. Léon Garneau in 1952.

Language of the documents: The documents are in English.

Finding aid: An inventory of the documents is available.

Group of related documents: The McCord Stewart Museum holds the Drummond Family fonds (P015), and several members of this family had ties to John Redpath, either through business or by marriage. The Museum also possesses a number of photographs of members of the Redpath family and their residence, mostly taken by the Notman studio, together with two paintings by Antoine Plamondon that are portraits of John Redpath (M994.35.1) and Jane Drummond (M994.35.2).

Associated material:  There are related documents kept at other institutions:

Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ) holds the Fonds Cour supérieure. District judiciaire de Montréal. Greffes d’arpenteurs (CA601), which contains relevant plans bearing the following reference codes: CA601, S53, SS1, P1254 ; CA601, S53, SS1, P358 ; CA601, S53, SS1, P1349 ; CA601, S53, SS1, P148 ; CA601, S53, SS1, P359 ; CA601, S53, SS1, P1369 ; CA601, S53, SS1, P293 ; CA601, S143, SS1, D1 ; CA601, S53, SS1, P257 ; CA601, S53, SS1, P1341 ; CA601, S53, SS1, P3044 ; CA601, S171, SS2, SSS2, D7244 ; CA601, S171, SS2, SSS2, D7399 ; CA601, S53, SS1, P644.The Collection Scènes de rues de Montréal (P20) contains a number of plans related to Mount Royal and properties owned by John Redpath. The Fonds de l’Annexation Association of Montreal (P661), for which Redpath served as president, is also kept at the BAnQ; a circular issued by this association is accessible online (https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.22185). The Collection de sermons de l’Église unie du Canada (P632) contains a sermon given at Redpath’s funeral that is also accessible online (https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.09626). The Collection dessins d’architecture (P147) includes a file (P147, S1, D9) titled “Maison de John Redpath.”

 

Last update : February 24, 2023


Information about the objects in our collection is updated to reflect new research findings. If you have any information to share regarding this object, please email reference.mccord@mccord-stewart.ca.

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This project is made possible thanks to the generous support of the Azrieli Foundation and Canadian Heritage.