Matthew Hamilton Gault (1822-1887)
M.P., Founder of Sun Life Assurance Company, Montreal
He was born at Strabane, Co. Tyrone, in Northern Ireland. He came to Canada with his family in 1842. He was President of the Exchange Bank; President of the Montreal Loan & Mortgage Company; Vice-President of the Sun Life Assurance Company; and, Vice-President of the Montreal Mining Company. He was a director of the Richelieu & Ontario Navigation Company; Dominion Telegraph; and, the Windsor Hotel. In Quebec, he was the resident manager of the British-American Assurance Company, chief agent of the Royal Insurance Company of England, and agent of the Mutual Life Assurance Company of New York. He was the founder of the Irish Protestant Benevolent Society and as a Conservative was elected to represent Montreal West in Parliament from 1878 to 1887. He married Elizabeth, daughter of George Bourne, and had 16-children of whom eleven (listed) survived to adulthood. They lived at Braehead in Montreal and summered at "Rockcliffe" in Cacouna, bought from Andrew Allan.
