Sir H. Montagu Allan (1860-1951)

He was born in Montreal and was educated at Bishop's College School, Lennoxville, and in Paris. He was the principal heir of his father, Sir Hugh Allan, and became Deputy Chairman of the family-owned Allan Steamship Line. He was President of the Merchant's Bank of Canada and of the Montreal General Hospital while serving as a director of several major Canadian financial institutions. He co-founded and was President of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Montreal. He was Lieutenant-Colonel of the 5th Royal Highlanders of Canada and served with the same rank in the Canadian Expeditionary Force while President of the Pensions and Claims Board. He was a member of the Carlton Club in London; the Royal Thames Yacht Club; the St. James and Mount Royal Clubs in Montreal; and the Knickerbocker Club in New York. He lived with his family between Ravenscrag, Montreal; Montrose, Cacouna; and, Allancroft, Beaconsfield.

The Allan Line began as the Montreal Ocean Steamship Company in 1854 and became the Allan Line Steamship Company in 1897. In 1901, two of their ships (Victorian and Virginian) were the first on the Atlantic to have three propellers. In 1906, the Allans negotiated a new contract with the Royal Mail, but it required modernising their fleet. Smelling an opportunity, the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) under the presidency of Lord Shaughnessy approached the Allans and in 1908 meetings were held in utmost secrecy between the CPR and the Allan's legal counsel, F.E. Meredith. In 1909, a formal agreement was signed between Meredith and the board of the Allan Line. The lion's share of the 57,000-shares in the Allan Line were sold to the CPR for £1.6-million with five members of the Allan family (including Montagu) each retaining 500-shares. To the outside eye, the Allan Line remained unchanged until it was amalgamated with the Canadian Pacific Steamship Company in 1915 and the secret deal only became public knowledge in 1917.

In 1922, the Merchant's Bank of Canada - that other stalwart of the Allan family into which Sir Montagu had put all their remaining interests after selling the Allan Line - was on the edge of insolvency and its 400-branches were taken over by the Bank of Montreal under the presidency of Sir Vincent Meredith. To keep his head above water, Montagu sold off his weekend home in Beaconsfield, Allancroft, but managed to hold on to his summer home in Cacouna, Montrose. In 1940, Montagu and his wife donated their Montreal home, Ravenscrag, to the Royal Victoria Hospital (becoming the Allan Memorial Institute) and they sold Montrose for a fraction of what it had cost to build the following year.

Having owned three mansions, they retired to an apartment in "Le Château" on Sherbrooke Street, Montreal. Montagu is best remembered today as a sportsman who donated the Allan Cup, a trophy that is still awarded annually to the Canadian men's amateur ice hockey champions. He was also President of the Montreal Jockey Club and among others his horses won the Queen's Plate and the Montreal Hunt Cup. In 1892, he married Marguerite, daughter of Hector Mackenzie, of Montreal, and he was knighted in 1904. Tragically, he outlived all four of his children, three of whom were killed at a young age (two on the Lusitania, one in combat in World War I), and none were married.