Hugh Mackay (1832-1890)
M.L.C., of Montreal; Co-Founder of the Bell Telephone Company of Canada
He was born at Caithness in the north of Scotland and completed his education at Phillips School, Montreal. He began his career in the dry goods business of his uncles, Joseph and Edward Mackay, becoming a partner in 1856. He was a founding member (1880) and director of the Bell Telephone Company of Canada and a director of the Royal Canadian Insurance Company. In 1883, he succeeded his uncle Edward Mackay as President of the Mackay Institution for Protestant Deaf Mutes and he wasVice-President of the St. Andrew's Society at Montreal. In 1888, he was elected to the Legislative Council of Quebec as a Liberal representing Victoria. He inherited $2-million dollars from his uncles and made a further $1-million by the time he died in 1890. Having no children, his $3-million fortune passed to his brother, Senator Robert Mackay.
