View source for Donald Smith, 1st Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal

{{Short description|Canadian businessman, politician and philanthropist (1820–1914)}}
{{More citations needed|date=September 2014}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2012}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|honorific-prefix = [[The Right Honourable]]
|name             = The Lord Strathcona and Mount&nbsp;Royal
|honorific-suffix = {{postnominals|country=CAN|size=100%|PC|GCMG|GCVO}} {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|PC|DL|FRS}}
|image            = LordStrathcona.jpg
|image_size       = 
|caption          = Smith {{circa}} 1890
|office           = [[Canadian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom]]
|term_start       = 1896
|term_end         = 1914
|primeminister    = [[Charles Tupper]]<br />[[Wilfrid Laurier]]<br />[[Robert Borden]]
|predecessor      = Charles Tupper
|successor        = [[George Halsey Perley|George Perley]]
|parliament1      = Canadian
|riding1          = [[Montreal West (electoral district)|Montreal West]]
|term_start1      = 22 February 1887
|term_end1        = 22 June 1896
|predecessor1     = [[Matthew Hamilton Gault]]
|successor1       = ''District abolished''
|parliament2      = Canadian
|riding2          = [[Selkirk (federal electoral district)|Selkirk]]
|term_start2      = 2 March 1871
|term_end2        = 13 May 1880
|predecessor2     = ''District established''
|successor2       = [[Thomas Scott (Manitoba politician)|Thomas Scott]]
|office3          = [[#External links|More...]]
|birth_name       = Donald Alexander Smith
|birth_date       = 6 August 1820
|birth_place      = [[Forres]], Scotland
|death_date       = {{death date and age|df=yes|1914|1|21|1820|08|6}}
|death_place      = [[London]], England
|resting_place    = [[Highgate Cemetery]], London
|residence        = 28 Grosvenor Square, London
|citizenship      = [[British subject]]
|known_for        = [[Last Spike (Canadian Pacific Railway)|Driving the CPR's Last Spike]]
|awards           = [[Albert Medal (Royal Society of Arts)|Albert Medal]] {{small|(1912)}}
|education        = 
|alma_mater       = 
|employer         = 
|occupation       = Diplomat, businessman
|spouse           = {{Marriage|Isabella Sophia Hardisty|1853|1913|end=died}}
|children         = [[Margaret Howard, 2nd Baroness Strathcona and Mount Royal]]
|parents          = 
|relations        = 
|signature        = Donald Smith, 1st Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal Signature.svg
|website          = 
|footnotes        = 
}}

'''Donald Alexander Smith, 1st Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal''', {{postnominals|country=CAN|sep=,|PC|GCMG|GCVO}} {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|PC|DL|FRS}} (6 August 1820{{snd}}21 January 1914), known as '''Sir Donald A. Smith''' between May 1886 and August 1897, was a Scottish-born Canadian businessman who became one of the [[British Empire]]'s foremost builders and philanthropists. He became commissioner, governor and principal shareholder of the [[Hudson's Bay Company]]. He was president of the [[Bank of Montreal]] and with his first cousin, George Stephen (later [[Lord Mount Stephen]]), co-founded the [[Canadian Pacific Railway]]. He was elected to the [[Legislative Assembly of Manitoba]] and afterwards represented [[Montreal]] in the [[House of Commons of Canada]]. He was [[Canadian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom]] from 1896 to 1914. He was chairman of [[Burmah Oil]] and the [[Anglo-Persian Oil Company]]. He was chancellor of [[McGill University]] (1889–1914)<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.archives.mcgill.ca/resources/guide/vol1/rg1.htm|title=Chancellor|website=www.archives.mcgill.ca}}</ref> and the [[University of Aberdeen]].

[[King Edward VII]] called him "Uncle Donald".<ref>{{Cite book|last=McDonald|first=Donna|title=Lord Strathcona: A Biography of Donald Alexander Smith|publisher=Dundurn Press|year=1996|isbn=1-55002-397-7|location=Toronto|pages=482|language=English}}</ref> His [[Estate (law)|estate]] was valued at $5.5 million (equivalent to ${{Inflation|CA|5.5|1914|r=0}}&nbsp;million in {{Inflation/year|US}}). During his lifetime, and including the bequests left after his death, he gave away just over $7.5 million-plus a further £1 million (not including private gifts and allowances) to a huge variety of charitable causes across Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States.<ref name="McDonald">{{cite book | title=Lord Strathcona: A Biography of Donald Alexander Smith. | publisher=Dundurn Press | author=McDonald, Donna | year=1996 | location=Toronto and Oxford | pages=[https://archive.org/details/lordstrathconabi0000mcdo/page/600 600] | isbn=1-55002-266-0 | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/lordstrathconabi0000mcdo/page/600 }}</ref> He personally raised [[Strathcona's Horse]], who saw their first action in the [[Second Boer War]]. He funded the building of [[Leanchoil Hospital]]. He and his first cousin, Lord Mount Stephen, purchased the land and then each gave $1 million to the [[City of Montreal]] to construct and maintain the [[Royal Victoria Hospital, Montreal|Royal Victoria Hospital]]. He endowed the [[Lord Strathcona Medal]] and donated generously to [[McGill University]], [[Aberdeen University]], the [[Victoria University of Manchester]], [[Yale University]], the [[King's Fund|Prince of Wales Hospital Fund]] and the [[Imperial Institute]]. At [[McGill University|McGill]], he started the ''Donalda Program'' for the purpose of providing higher education for Canadian women, building the [[Royal Victoria College]] on Sherbrooke Street for that purpose in 1886. He also built the Strathcona Medical Building at [[McGill University|McGill]] and endowed its [[chair (academic)|chairs]] in [[pathology]] and [[hygiene]].

==Early life==
Born 6 August 1820, on [[Forres]] High Street, in [[Moray]], [[Scotland]],<ref name="martin">{{cite journal|last1=Martin|first1=Joseph E.|title=Titans|journal=Canada's History|date=2017|volume=97|issue=5|pages=47–53|issn=1920-9894}}</ref> he was the second son of Alexander Smith (1786–1841) and his wife Barbara Stuart, daughter of Donald Stuart (b.c.1740) of [[Leanchoil Hospital|Leanchoil]], [[Strathspey, Scotland|Upper Strathspey]], descended from [[Murdoch Stewart, Duke of Albany|Murdoch Stewart, 2nd Duke of Albany]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://wc.rootsweb.com/trees/217846/I14516/-/individual|title=Individual Page|website=wc.rootsweb.com}}</ref> His father, whose family had lived at Archiestown Cottage as [[Croft (land)|crofters]] at [[Knockando, Moray|Knockando]], became a [[saddle]]r at Forres after trying his hand at farming and soldiering. Donald was also a first cousin of the successful and notably philanthropic Grant brothers of [[Manchester]], who were reputedly immortalised as the "Cheeryble Brothers" in [[Charles Dickens]]' book, [[Nicholas Nickleby]].<ref name="ebooksread.com">{{Cite web|url=https://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/beckles-willson/lord-strathcona-the-story-of-his-life-lli/1-lord-strathcona-the-story-of-his-life-lli.shtml|title=Read the eBook Lord Strathcona, the story of his life by Beckles Willson online for free (page 1 of 21)|website=www.ebooksread.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://victorianweb.org/art/illustration/copping/18.html|title=Dickens's "The Brothers Cheeryble" by Harold Copping|website=victorianweb.org}}</ref> Donald's mother was the sister of the Canadian explorer [[John Stuart (explorer)|John Stuart]], partner of the [[North West Company]] who rose to become Chief Factor of the [[Hudson's Bay Company]].

Smith was educated at [[Andersons Primary School|Anderson's Free School]] and on leaving at age sixteen he was apprenticed to become a lawyer in the offices of Robert Watson, [[Clerk (municipal official)|Town Clerk]] of Forres. By the age of eighteen, Smith chose another career path: offered entry into mercantile life at Manchester, and a career in the [[Indian Civil Service]], his choice was to pattern himself on his uncle [[John Stuart (explorer)|John Stuart]] (who had by then returned to live near Forres) who offered him a junior clerkship in the service of the Hudson's Bay Company. Smith chose to follow his uncle's career and sailed to Montreal that year.<ref name="ebooksread.com"/>

==Hudson's Bay Company==
[[File:Strathcona 4101090154 c14b26792d o.jpg|thumb|Lord Strathcona circa 1913]]
Smith emigrated to [[Lower Canada]] in 1838 to work for the [[Hudson's Bay Company]] (HBC),<ref name="martin" /> becoming a clerk for the organization in 1842.  He was given administrative control over the [[seigneury]] of [[Mingan]] (in modern [[Labrador]]) in late 1843, where his innovative methods met with the disapproval of HBC governor [[George Simpson (administrator)|Sir George Simpson]].  The Mingan post burned down in 1846, and Smith left for [[Montreal]] the following year.  He returned in 1848, and remained in Labrador until the 1860s, administering the [[fur trade]] and [[salmon]] fishing within the region.

In 1862, Smith was promoted as the company's Chief Factor in charge of the Labrador district.<ref name="martin" /> He travelled to [[London]] in 1865, and made a favourable impression on the HBC's directors.  In 1868, he was promoted to Commissioner of the Montreal department, managing the HBC's eastern operations.<ref name="martin" /> That same year, Smith joined with [[George Stephen, 1st Baron Mount Stephen|George Stephen]], [[Richard Bladworth Angus]], and [[Andrew Paton]] to establish the textile manufactory, Paton Manufacturing Company, in [[Sherbrooke]].<ref name="martin" />

In 1869, the government of [[John A. Macdonald]] held the HBC accountable for the disturbances reported in the [[Red River Colony]], which was part of the proposed purchase of the original part of [[Rupert's Land]] from the HBC. The person in charge of HBC's nominal head office in Montreal was Smith, and he was asked by the Governor-General to investigate and write a [[Royal Commission]] report. Smith travelled to (present-day) [[Manitoba]], and negotiated at [[Fort Garry]] with [[Louis Riel]],<ref name="martin" /> who had been voted the leader of the resistance. Smith's offers, including land recognition for the [[Métis people (Canada)|Métis]], led to Riel calling a Council of 40 representatives, drawn half-and-half from the Metis and the HBC settlers, for formal negotiations. Smith returned to [[Ottawa]] in early 1870, and communicated the Royal Commission on the ''North-West Territories'',<ref>{{Cite report|url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100258409|title=North-West Territories report of Donald A. Smith |first=Donald Alexander |last=Smith |series=CIHM/ICMH Microfiche series (CIHM/ICMH collection de microfiches) no. 18073 |date=4 July 1870|publisher=s.n.|isbn=9780665180736|via=Hathi Trust}}</ref> which effectively made his name in Canada and London. Smith succeeded in gaining clemency for some prisoners within the region; he was not, however, able to prevent the execution of [[Thomas Scott (Orangeman)|Thomas Scott]] by Riel's provisional government. He was appointed that year to the office of President of the HBC's Council of the Northern Department (effectively becoming administrator of the [[Northwest Territories]], including Manitoba).<ref>{{harvnb|Newman|1992|p=47}}</ref>

Smith accompanied Col. [[Garnet Wolseley]]'s military mission to Red River later in the year; following the end of the resistance, Wolseley appointed Smith as the Acting Governor of [[Assiniboia]] pending Lieutenant Governor [[Adams George Archibald]]'s arrival in the province.  Smith stayed in the region after 1870 and was responsible for negotiating the transfer of HBC land to the federal government (as well as coordinating the transfer of several specific land claims in the region). Archibald appointed Smith to his [[Executive Council (Commonwealth countries)|Executive Council]] on 20 October 1870, although this decision was subsequently overturned by the Canadian government, which ruled that Archibald had overstepped his legal authority.

==Political career==
[[File:Lord Strathcona Vanity Fair 1900-04-19.jpg|thumb|″Canada in London″ by [[Leslie Ward]], caricature of Lord Strathcona in ''[[Vanity Fair (UK magazine)|Vanity Fair]]'', 1900]]
In [[1870 Manitoba general election|Manitoba's first general election]], held on 27 December 1870, Smith was elected to the [[Manitoba legislature|provincial legislature]] for the riding of [[Winnipeg (provincial electoral district)|Winnipeg and St. John]], defeating long-time HBC nemesis [[John Christian Schultz]] by 71 votes to 63.  Smith was a supporter of Archibald's consensus government, and opposed Schultz's ultra-loyalist [[Canadian Party]]; there was a riot among the Ontario soldiers stationed in [[Winnipeg]] following the announcement of Smith's victory.{{citation needed|date=July 2016}}

Politicians were allowed to serve in both the provincial and federal parliaments in this period of Manitoba history, and Smith was elected to the [[House of Commons of Canada]] for the newly formed riding of [[Selkirk (federal electoral district)|Selkirk]] in early 1871.  He sat as an [[Independent Conservative]], and initially supported the government of Sir [[John A. Macdonald]].  Easily [[1872 Canadian federal election|re-elected in 1872]], Smith was a strong defender of HBC interests in the House of Commons, and also spoke for issues concerning Manitoba and the Northwest.  He helped create the [[Bank of Manitoba]] and the [[Manitoba Insurance Company]] during this period, assisted by banker Sir [[Hugh Allan]].

In 1872 Smith was appointed to the first group of members of the [[Temporary North-West Council]] the first governing [[Legislative Assembly of North-West Territories|assembly of the North-West Territories]]. Smith was one of the few people who served on two provincial/territorial legislatures and the federal parliament at the same time.

Smith broke with Macdonald in 1873, after the [[Prime Minister of Canada|Prime Minister]] had delayed reimbursement for Smith's earlier expenses in Red River.  Smith voted to censure the government in a motion over the [[Pacific Scandal]] and was thereby partly responsible for the government's defeat.  Smith remained an Independent Conservative, but his relations with the official [[Conservative Party of Canada (historical)|Conservative]] representatives were often strained in later years.

Manitoba abolished the "dual mandate" in 1873, and Smith resigned from the provincial legislature in early 1874 (the first person to do so).  In the [[1874 Canadian federal election|Canadian general election of 1874]], Smith defeated [[Liberal Party of Canada|Liberal]] candidate [[Andrew Bannatyne|Andrew G. B. Bannatyne]] by 329 votes to 225.  The ''[[Manitoba Free Press]]'', at the time, suggested that Smith had encouraged Bannatyne's candidacy to prevent more serious opposition from emerging.{{citation needed|date=July 2016}}

In 1873, the HBC separated its fur trade and land sales operations, putting Smith in charge of the latter.  Smith had developed an interest in railway expansion through his work with the HBC, and in 1875 was among the incorporators of the [[Manitoba Western Railway]].  He was also a partner in the [[Red River Transportation Company]], which gained control over the [[St. Paul and Pacific Railroad]] in March 1878.  His business ventures increasingly dominated his labours, and he formally resigned as land commissioner in early 1879, though he remained a leading figure in the HBC's operations for another 30 years.

Smith faced a serious electoral challenge from former Manitoba Lieutenant Governor [[Alexander Morris (politician)|Alexander Morris]] in the [[1878 Canadian federal election|general election of 1878]].  Aided on this occasion by the ''Manitoba Free Press'', Smith defeated Morris by 555 votes to 546; local Conservative organizers protested the result, and it was overturned two years later.  On 10 September 1880, Smith was defeated by former [[List of mayors of Winnipeg, Manitoba|Winnipeg Mayor]] [[Thomas Scott (Manitoba)|Thomas Scott]], 735 votes to 577.

==Corporate leader==
[[File:LastSpike Craigellachie BC Canada.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Smith drives the [[Last Spike of the Canadian Pacific Railway]], 7 November 1885, [[Craigellachie, British Columbia]]]]
In May 1879, Smith became a director in the [[St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railway Company]], having control over 20% of its shares.  He was subsequently a leading figure in the creation of the [[Canadian Pacific Railway]], although he was not appointed as a director of the organization until 1883 because of his lingering animosity with Sir John A. Macdonald (who had again become [[prime minister]] in 1878). During his tenure on the board, Smith had the honour of driving the [[Last Spike (Canadian Pacific Railway)|last spike]]<ref name="martin" /> at [[Craigellachie, British Columbia]] to complete the construction of the [[Canadian Pacific Railway]] rail line. Smith remained on the board of directors for several years, although he was by-passed for the company's presidency in 1888,<ref name="martin" /> in favour of [[William Cornelius Van Horne]].

Smith became extremely wealthy through his investments, and he was involved in a myriad of Canadian and American corporations in the latter part of the 19th century.  He was appointed to the board of the [[Bank of Montreal]] in 1872, became its vice-president in 1882, and was promoted to the Presidency in 1887.<ref name="martin" /> His leadership in real estate transactions caused Smith to become a financier, and he was thus involved in (or founded) over 80 trust structures, including the [[Royal Trust (Canada)|Royal Trust]] and [[Montreal Trust]].<ref>{{harvnb|Newman|1992|p=5}}</ref> He retained a significant interest in the [[Hudson's Bay Company]] throughout his life and became in 1889 Governor of the company that had made his name.

Smith was also involved in the newspaper industry in his later years.  His attempt to take over the ''[[Toronto Globe]]'' in 1882 was unsuccessful, though he took effective control of the ''[[Manitoba Free Press]]'' from [[William Fisher Luxton]] in 1893.  In 1889, he was the principal shareholder of the Hudson's Bay Company and was elected as its 26th governor, holding this position until his death in 1914.

==Later political career==
Smith was re-elected to the Canadian House of Commons in [[1887 Canadian federal election|1887]], in the [[Quebec]] riding of [[Montreal West (electoral district)|Montreal West]], and once again sat as an "Independent Conservative".  In the same year he received an honorary Doctor of Laws from [[St John's College, Cambridge]].<ref>{{acad|id= SMT887DA|name=Smith, Sir Donald Alexander}}</ref> He was re-elected in the [[1891 Canadian general election|election of 1891]], defeating his only opponent, [[James Cochrane (mayor)|James Cochrane]], 4586 votes to 880.  Smith remained interested in Manitoba politics, and attempted (without success) to broker a compromise between [[Thomas Greenway]] and the federal government during the [[Manitoba school crisis]] of the 1890s.

==High Commissioner==
Prime Minister [[Mackenzie Bowell|Sir Mackenzie Bowell]] wanted Smith to succeed him in 1896, but Smith refused.  The position of Prime Minister instead went to [[Charles Tupper|Sir Charles Tupper]], who appointed Smith as [[List of Canadian High Commissioners to the United Kingdom|High Commissioner to the United Kingdom]] on 24 April 1896.

[[Wilfrid Laurier|Sir Wilfrid Laurier]] retained Smith as High Commissioner following the Liberal [[1896 Canadian federal election|election victory of 1896]], although his powers were somewhat undercut. He was created '''Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal''', of [[Glen Coe|Glencoe]] in the [[Argyll|County of Argyll]] and of [[Mount Royal]] in the [[Province of Quebec]] and [[Canada|Dominion of Canada]], in the [[Peerage of the United Kingdom]], on 23 August 1897, as part of the [[1897 Diamond Jubilee Honours]].<ref name="martin" /><ref>{{London Gazette |issue=26885 |date=24 August 1897 |page=4725 }}</ref> He had already been made [[Order of St Michael and St George|KCMG]] on 29 May 1886,<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=25592 |date=29 May 1886 |page=2634 }}</ref> promoted to [[GCMG]] on 20 May 1896,<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=26741 |date=20 May 1896 |page=3054 }}</ref> and was further made [[Royal Victorian Order|GCVO]] in 1908. He cooperated with Manitoba Liberal [[Clifford Sifton]] in opening the Canadian prairies to eastern-European immigration.  He raised [[Strathcona's Horse]], a private unit of Canadian soldiers, during the [[Second Boer War]], and became one of the leading supporters of British imperialism within London. After the end of the war, he was appointed among the members of a Royal Commission set up to investigate the conduct of the Second Boer War (the Elgin Commission 1902–1903).<ref>{{London Gazette| issue=27482 |page=6493 |date=14 October 1902}}</ref> He was involved in the creation of the [[Anglo-Persian Oil Company]], of which he became the chairman in 1909.<ref name="martin" /> Lord Strathcona subsequently used his influence to make the company a major supplier of the [[Royal Navy]].

He was granted a second creation of the Barony, with a Special Remainder in favour of his daughter Margaret Charlotte Howard, as '''Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal''', of Mount Royal in the Province of Quebec and Dominion of Canada, and of Glencoe in the County of Argyll, on 26 June 1900.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=27205 |date=26 June 1900 |page=3963}}</ref>

He was [[Rector of the University of Aberdeen|Lord Rector of the University of Aberdeen]] (1899–1902), and he received the [[Freedom of the City of Aberdeen]] in a ceremony on 9 April 1902.<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Lord Strathcona at Aberdeen |date=10 April 1902 |page=11 |issue=36738}}</ref>

On 12 February 1902, he was appointed an [[Colonel (United Kingdom)#Honorary Colonel|Honorary Colonel]] of the 8th (Volunteer) Battalion, [[King's Regiment (Liverpool)|the King's (Liverpool Regiment)]],<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=27405 |date=11 February 1902 |page=850 }}</ref> and the same month he received the [[honorary degree]] of [[Legum Doctor|Doctor of Laws]] (LL.D.) from the [[Victoria University of Manchester]], in connection with the 50th jubilee of the establishment of the university.<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=University intelligence |date=1 March 1902 |page=12 |issue=36704}}</ref> He received the honorary degree [[Doctor of Civil Law]] (DCL) from the [[University of Oxford]] in October 1902, in connection with the tercentenary of the [[Bodleian Library]].<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=University intelligence |date=8 October 1902 |page=4 |issue=36893}}</ref>

He was sworn in as a Member of the [[Privy Council of the United Kingdom|Imperial Privy Council]] in 1904. He received the [[Freedom of the City]] of [[Bath, Somerset|Bath]] on 13 July 1911.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=g9ZfAAAAIBAJ&pg=2527%2C965141 |title=Freedom of City of Bath for Lord Strathcona |work=The Daily Phoenix |date=14 July 1911 |page=6}}</ref>

==Philanthropy==
[[File:McGill University Music Building, Aug 31 2022.jpg|thumb|Strathcona Music Building on Sherbrooke Street, Montreal. Originally known as Royal Victoria College and was built in 1884 by Strathcona for the higher education of women.]]
Strathcona was a leading philanthropist in his later years, donating large sums of money to various organizations in Britain, Canada and elsewhere.  His largest donations were made with George Stephen, donating the money to build the [[Royal Victoria Hospital, Montreal|Royal Victoria Hospital]] in Montreal that opened its doors in 1893. Strathcona also made a major donation to [[McGill University]] in Montreal, where he helped establish a school for women in 1884 (Royal Victoria College). He was named Chancellor of McGill in 1888, and he held the post until his death. He also bequeathed funds to the [[Sheffield Scientific School]] for a science and engineering building and to support two professorships in engineering.  He was awarded an honorary degree from [[Yale University]] in 1892. He contributed donations to the new [[University of Birmingham]] following representations by [[Joseph Chamberlain]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://calmview.bham.ac.uk/GetDocument.ashx?db%3DCatalog%26fname%3DMason+College+resource+guide.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2014-10-07 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141013010532/http://calmview.bham.ac.uk/GetDocument.ashx?db=Catalog&fname=Mason+College+resource+guide.pdf |archive-date=13 October 2014 }}</ref>

In 1910, Strathcona deposited in trust with the Dominion Government the sum of $500,000, bearing an annual interest of 4%, to develop citizenship and patriotism, for example in the [[Royal Canadian Army Cadets]] movement, through physical training, rifle shooting, and military drill.<ref>[https://www2.viu.ca/homeroom/content/Topics/Programs/st.htm viu.ca: "The Strathcona Trust and Physical Training in B.C. Public Schools"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111130015613/https://www2.viu.ca/homeroom/content/Topics/Programs/st.htm |date=30 November 2011 }}</ref> A ''Syllabus of Physical Exercises for Schools'' was published by the Trust in 1911.<ref>archive.org - [https://archive.org/details/syllabusofphysic00strauoft Executive Council of the Strathcona Trust: "Syllabus of physical exercises for schools"].</ref> He is remembered today by the Cadets with the [[Lord Strathcona Medal]].

==Death==
[[File:The vault of Baron Strathcona, Highgate Cemetery, London.jpg|thumb|150px|The vault of Lord Strathcona, [[Highgate Cemetery]], London]]
Lord Strathcona died in 1914 in [[London]]<ref name="martin" /> and was buried at [[Highgate Cemetery]]. His imposing red granite vault is the first vault after entering the Eastern Cemetery. His seventy-five-year tenure with the Hudson's Bay Company remains a record.

He lived in Montreal's [[Golden Square Mile]]. In 1895, he purchased an estate in [[Scotland]], building and living at [[Glencoe House]]. In 1905, he purchased the [[Colonsay|Island of Colonsay]] including [[Colonsay House]] (where his descendants still live) and the Island of [[Oronsay, Inner Hebrides|Oronsay]], both on the [[Hebrides|Hebridean]] coast of [[Scotland]].  He kept a house in [[London]] and after his appointment as Canadian High Commissioner leased [[Knebworth House]] from 1899 until his death. He was given a full state funeral at [[Westminster Abbey]], where a memorial stands to his memory, and would have been entombed there but he preferred to rest next to his wife, who pre-deceased him by several months, in [[Highgate Cemetery]].<ref name=dcb/>

His obituary in ''[[The Times of London]]'' read in part,<ref>{{harvnb|Newman|1992|p=167}}</ref>
{{cquote|With no advantage of birth or fortune he made himself one of the great outstanding figures of the Empire.}}

==Family==
[[File:Baroness Strathcona and Mount Royal by William Notman.jpg|thumb|Isabella Sophia, Baroness Strathcona and Mount Royal, by [[William Notman]]]]
In 1853, he married Isabella Sophia Hardisty (1825–1913), daughter of Richard Hardisty (1790–1865), Chief Trader of the [[Hudson's Bay Company]], and Margaret Sutherland (1802–1876), daughter of the Rev. John Sutherland, a native of [[Caithness]] who lived at [[Lachine, Quebec]]. Lady Strathcona's father was a native of [[London]], [[England]], and her mother was of Indian and Scottish parentage. Her brother was the Hon. [[Richard Hardisty|Richard Charles Hardisty]]. She was presented to King Edward and Queen Alexandra, 13 March 1903, and with her daughter donated $100,000 to [[McGill University]] in [[Montreal]] to erect a new wing to its Medical Building.<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Morgan |editor-first=Henry James |editor-link=Henry James Morgan |title=Types of Canadian Women and of Women who are or have been Connected with Canada |location=Toronto |publisher=Williams Briggs |date=1903 |url=https://archive.org/details/typesofcanadianw01morguoft |page=[https://archive.org/details/typesofcanadianw01morguoft/page/2 2]}}</ref> The couple lived at 53 [[Cadogan Square]], London; [[Knebworth House]]; [[Debden Hall, Uttlesford|Debden Hall]]; [[Glencoe House]], Scotland; [[Colonsay House]], Scotland and 1157 Dorchester Street, in [[Montreal]]'s [[Golden Square Mile]].<ref>[http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/smith_donald_alexander_14E.html Dictionary of Canadian Biography, Smith, Donald Alexander, 1st Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal]</ref>

Lord and Lady Strathcona were the parents of one child, the Hon. Margaret Charlotte Smith.  In accordance with the special remainder to the 1900 barony, she succeeded her father as Lady Strathcona in 1914.  In 1888, she married Robert Jared Bliss Howard [[Order of the British Empire|OBE]] [[Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons|FRCS]] (1859–1921), son of Robert Palmer Howard (1823–1889), Dean of Medicine at McGill University.

Robert Howard and Lady Strathcona had the following children:{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}

* The Hon. Frances Margaret Palmer Howard (born 13 February 1889, died 5 October 1958)
* The Rt Hon. [[Donald Howard, 3rd Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal|Donald Sterling Palmer Howard, 3rd Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal]] (born 14 June 1891, died 22 February 1959)
* The Hon. Robert Henry Palmer Howard (born 1893, [[killed in action]] 8 May 1915){{citation needed|date=October 2020}}
* The Hon. Edith Mary Palmer Howard (born 7 April 1895, died 1979), married [[Baron Congleton|John Brooke Molesworth Parnell, 6th Baron Congleton]] on 6 April 1918{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}
* The Hon. Sir [[Arthur Jared Palmer Howard]], [[Order of the British Empire|KBE]] [[Commander of the Royal Victorian Order|CVO]] (born 30 May 1896, died 26 April 1971)

His [[Montreal]] home was located in the [[Golden Square Mile]]. In 1905, he bought the island of [[Colonsay]] in the [[Inner Hebrides]], which remains in the hands of his successors today.

==Legacy==
{{see also|Strathcona (disambiguation){{!}}Strathcona}}
[[File:Strathcona Park Ottawa.jpg|thumb|right|[[Strathcona Park (Ottawa)|Strathcona Park]], Ottawa]]
Lord Strathcona is commemorated in Montreal by several McGill University buildings; he gave freely of his time to this institution, and a great quantity of his wealth.<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://hdl.handle.net/2027/aeu.ark:/13960/t71v6tz9r|title=ObituariesLord Strathcona and Mount Royal, August 6, 1820-January 19, 1914; Sir Jonathan Hutchinson, F.R.C.S., F.R.S., July 23, 1828-June 23, 1913; Charles Sedgwick Minot, D.S., LL.D., D. Sc., December 23, 1852-November 19, 1914 /|first=Maude E.|last=Abbott|series = CIHM/ICMH collection de microfiches; no. 77966|date=4 July 1915|publisher=[Baltimore?|hdl=2027/aeu.ark:/13960/t71v6tz9r|isbn=9780665779664}}</ref> In Westmount, a street was named in his honour. In the greater Montreal West Island community, the Strathcona Desjardins Credit Union bears his name, with offices in downtown Montreal and in Kirkland. The credit union members were historically from the English-speaking hospitals of Montreal, but since then recent mergers also include Montreal area, English-speaking teachers.

The Strathcona family mansion in Montreal on Dorchester Street (now [[René Lévesque Boulevard]])<ref name=dcb>{{cite DCB |title=Smith, Donald Alexander, 1st Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal |first=Alexander |last=Reford |volume=14 |url=http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/smith_donald_alexander_14E.html}}</ref> near Fort Street was torn down in 1941 to make way for an apartment building.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2194&dat=19410320&id=pAMvAAAAIBAJ&sjid=1dsFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6805,3856154&hl=fr|title=Ottawa Citizen - Recherche d'archives de Google Actualités|website=news.google.com}}</ref>

Strathcona Avenue, located in Westmount (a suburb on the island of Montreal) is named in his honour.

Strathcona is commemorated in Manitoba by the [[Strathcona, Manitoba|Rural Municipality of Strathcona]] and by three streets in Winnipeg: [[Winnipeg Route 42|Donald Street and Smith Street]] in the downtown core, and Strathcona Street in the city's [[West End, Winnipeg|West End]].<ref>{{cite web |website=Memorable Manitobans |title=Donald Alexander Smith [Lord Strathcona] (1820-1914) |url=http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/people/smith_da.shtml |publisher=Manitoba Historical Society |access-date=30 November 2009}}</ref> In Alberta he is commemorated by the [[Calgary]] neighbourhood of [[Strathcona Park, Calgary|Strathcona Park]]<ref>[http://www.rampantscotland.com/placenames/placename_calgary.htm Scottish Place Names in Calgary.]. Retrieved 30 November 2009.</ref> by the Edmonton neighbourhood of [[Strathcona, Edmonton|Strathcona]], and by the municipality of [[Strathcona County]]. In British Columbia, the [[Strathcona, Vancouver|Vancouver neighbourhood of Strathcona]] takes its name from Lord Strathcona School built in 1891, and [[Mount Sir Donald]] in [[Glacier National Park (Canada)|Glacier National Park]] is named after him. BC's oldest provincial park, [[Strathcona Provincial Park|Strathcona Park]], on Vancouver Island was named after him when it was founded in 1911. There are oil portraits of Lord Strathcona by many artists, but the Swiss-born American artist [[Adolfo Müller-Ury]] seems to have made a number of head and shoulder portraits of him from 1898 (examples may be found at the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad offices and in the Hudson's Bay Company [this has a repainted background]), and the artist also presented his 1899 bust-length charcoal and crayon drawing of Strathcona to McGill University in Montreal in 1916.

The Town of [[Fort Smith, Northwest Territories|Fort Smith]] in the Northwest Territories is named after Donald Smith. There is a [[stained glass]] window memorializing him in [[Westminster Abbey]]. His coat of arms appears over the main entrance of [[Marischal College]] in Aberdeen. [[Strathcona Park (Ottawa)|Strathcona Park]], which was erected by the city of Ottawa in 1907, is dedicated to him.<ref>{{cite web
 | title =Strathcona Park (Ottawa)
 | work =National Inventory of Military Memorials
 | publisher =National Defence Canada
 | date =2008-04-16
 | url =http://www.cmp-cpm.forces.gc.ca/dhh-dhp/nic-inm/sm-rm/mdsr-rdr-eng.asp?PID=8373
 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20140521201306/http://www.cmp-cpm.forces.gc.ca/dhh-dhp/nic-inm/sm-rm/mdsr-rdr-eng.asp?PID=8373
 | url-status =dead
 | archive-date =2014-05-21
 }}</ref> The Town of [[Transcona]], Manitoba, incorporated in 1912 as a community to support the new railway shops of the [[Grand Trunk Pacific]] and [[National Transcontinental]] railways, takes half its name from Lord Strathcona, and the other half from the word ''transcontinental''.<ref>{{cite web|title=Builders Fund|url=http://www.transconamuseum.mb.ca/history-of-transcona.htm|publisher=Transcona Historical Museum|access-date=24 November 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141003053823/http://www.transconamuseum.mb.ca/history-of-transcona.htm|archive-date=3 October 2014}}</ref>

Strathcona was inducted into the [[Canadian Curling Hall of Fame]] in 1973.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.curling.ca/hof/people/smith-sir-donald/|title=Smith, Sir. Donald – CCA Hall of Fame &#124; ACC Temple de la Renommée Virtuelle}}</ref>

===Ships named for Lord Strathcona===

At least three ships were named for Lord Strathcona during his lifetime. These were:

* ''Strathcona'', a 598-ton, 142-foot wooden sidewheel paddle steamer, was built in 1898 by J. Macfarlane at [[New Westminster, British Columbia]] for the [[Hudson's Bay Company]]. The vessel was operated on the Pacific Northwest coast and in 1898-99 carried elements of the [[Yukon Field Force]]. In 1902 ''Strathcona'' was sold to S.J.V. Spratt, later passing into the hands of the Sidney & Nanaimo Transportation Company. On 17 November 1909, the vessel was wrecked on a snag near Pages Landing on the Fraser River. In 1910 ''Strathcona'' was refloated and towed to New Westminster, where the engines and boilers were removed and the hull abandoned.<ref>''Strathcona'' file, Hudson's Bay Company Archives, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.</ref>
* ''Strathcona'', a 1,881-ton, 253-foot steel canal-sized [[Great Lakes freighter]], was built in 1900 by the Caledon Shipbuilding Company in [[Dundee, Scotland]]. This steamer was converted from a bulk carrier to a package freighter in 1911 by the Collingwood Shipbuilding Company at [[Collingwood, Ontario]]. ''Strathcona'' sailed for Inland Lines, Ltd., of [[Hamilton, Ontario]] until 1913, whereupon it passed into the hands of [[Canada Steamship Lines]] when that fleet was established. In 1915 ''Strathcona'' was requisitioned for ocean service during the [[First World War]]. While bound from the Tyne to [[Marseilles, France]], ''Strathcona'' was sunk by a scuttling charge from  [[SM U-78|SM ''U-78'']] on 13 April 1917 when some 145 miles west-northwest of [[North Ronaldsay]], [[Orkney Islands]].<ref>Greenwood, John Orville (1986), ''Namesakes 1910-1919'', p. 87. Cleveland: Freshwater Press, Inc.</ref><ref>''Mitchell's "Marine Directory of the Great Lakes"'', 1912 edition, p. 53.</ref><ref>''Green's Marine Directory of the Great Lakes'', 1915 edition, p. 80.</ref>
* ''Lord Strathcona'', a 495-ton, 160-foot steel salvage tug, was built in 1902 by J.P. Renoldson & Sons, Ltd., at [[South Shields, England]]. Owned by George T. Davie & Sons of [[Lauzon, Quebec]], this tug arrived on its delivery voyage on 4 May 1902.<ref>Brookes, Ivan S. (1974), ''The Lower St. Lawrence'', pp. 33, 282. Cleveland: Freshwater Press, Inc.</ref> ''Lord Strathcona'' was sold in 1912 to the Quebec Salvage & Wrecking Company, Ltd., a [[Canadian Pacific]] subsidiary,<ref>Brookes, pp. 40, 285.</ref> and remained in service through the end of the [[Second World War]].<ref>Brookes, p. 56.</ref> Ownership passed to [[Foundation Maritime]] in 1944, and ''Lord Strathcona'' was scrapped in 1947.

A fourth ship, ''Lord Strathcona'', was a 7,335-ton, 455-foot ocean steamer built in 1915 by W. Doxford & Sons Ltd. at [[Sunderland, England]]. Owned by the [[Dominion Line]], ''Lord Strathcona'' was bound from [[Wabana, Newfoundland and Labrador|Wabana, Newfoundland]] to [[Sydney, Nova Scotia]] with iron ore when the vessel was torpedoed and sunk by [[U-513]] on 5 September 1942. ''Lord Strathcona'''s crew of 44, including Captain Charles Stewart, were rescued.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Lord Strathcona's house on Dorchester Street, Montreal.jpg|Lord Strathcona's house in Montreal's [[Golden Square Mile]], built in 1879
File:Glencoe House, 1905.jpg|[[Glencoe House]], Scotland in 1905, built by Lord Strathcona in 1895
File:Colonsay House.JPG|[[Colonsay]] House, purchased with the island by Lord Strathcona and still occupied by his descendants today
File:Knebworth W front.JPG|[[Knebworth House]], leased by Lord Strathcona from 1899 until his death
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[Canadian peers and baronets]]
* [[Glencoe House]]
* [[Glencoe Lochan]]
* [[Golden Square Mile]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book
 | title = Merchant Princes
 | first = Peter C. | last = Newman
 | publisher = Viking
 | year = 1992
}}
* {{cite journal |last=Bernard |first=Kenneth |date=March 1907 |title=Lord Strathcona: A Hudson's Bay Trader Who Has Won A High Place in the British Peerage |journal=[[World's Work|The World's Work: A History of Our Time]] |volume=XIII |pages=8668–8678 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=3IfNAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA8668}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Donald Smith, 1st Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal|Donald Smith}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Donald Smith, 1st Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal}}
* {{Canadian Parliament links|ID=7518}}
*[http://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.redirect?app=fonandcol&id=97865&lang=eng Sir Donald Alexander Smith, Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal fonds] - [[Library and Archives Canada]]
*{{Cite EB1911 |wstitle=Strathcona and Mount Royal, Donald Alexander Smith, Baron |first=William Lawson |last=Grant
 |volume=25 |pages=1000-1001}}
*[https://collections.musee-mccord-stewart.ca/en/objects/187853/donald-smith-devenu-lord-strathcona-montreal-qc-1871?ctx=96b4de470cfda38c472462f562b4d11f07d8f499&idx=0 Photograph: Sir Donald Smith, Lord Strathcona in 1871. McCord Museum]
*[https://collections.musee-mccord-stewart.ca/en/objects/131085/sir-donald-a-smith-montreal-qc-1895?ctx=2483c00a1d78f78482327f6ae9e27e2f8d081ba6&idx=1 Photograph: Sir Donald Smith, Lord Strathcona in 1895. McCord Museum]
*[https://collections.musee-mccord-stewart.ca/en/objects/109486/sir-donald-a-smith-lord-strathcona-montreal-qc-1908?ctx=32186e0f1cf0a79216e7abf0ae044f0ca4124e2c&idx=23# Photograph: Sir Donald Smith, Lord Strathcona in 1908. McCord Museum]
*[http://viewfinder.english-heritage.org.uk/search/reference.aspx?uid=154107&index=0&mainQuery=Royal%20Mausoleum&searchType=all&form=home Photograph: Mausoleum in the East Cemetery, Highgate Cemetery in which Donald Alexander Smith lies] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180705004005/http://viewfinder.english-heritage.org.uk/search/reference.aspx?uid=154107&index=0&mainQuery=Royal%20Mausoleum&searchType=all&form=home |date=5 July 2018 }}
* {{cite encyclopedia |title=Donald Alexander Smith, 1st Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal |first=D.M.L. |last=Farr |orig-year=20 January 2008 |date=4 March 2015 |encyclopedia=[[The Canadian Encyclopedia]] |publisher=[[Historica Canada]] |edition=online |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/donald-alexander-smith-1st-baron-strathcona-and-mount-royal}}

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