Charles Meredith (banker) - C. Meredith & Co.

C. Meredith & Co.

In 1872, Meredith started his business career with Sir Hugh Allan's Merchant’s Bank, rising to the position of manager of the Western branches at Regina and Brandon. In 1887, he came to Montreal and purchased a seat on the Montreal Stock Exchange, founding C. Meredith & Co. Ltd, Stock and Bond Brokers with offices on St.-Francois-Xavier Street. The company, which soon established itself as the leading bond house in Montreal, was taken over by the United Financial Corporation Ltd. Meredith was President of both of these institutions until they amalgamated with the National City Company.

When Gerald Farrell became the secretary-treasurer of Meredith's in 1908, with the expansion of the Canadian West the firm had started to engage in industrial merger promotion. By 1910, C. Meredith & Co. had opened an office in London and was acting as an issue house in England by at least 1913. After Dominion Securities of Toronto, Meredith's was the first Canadian stockbroking firm to open an office in London, enjoying excellent connections mainly through the firm's close relationship the with the Bank of Montreal (of which his brother, Sir Vincent Meredith, was President), Canada's largest and most powerful commercial bank. Many of the directors of the Bank of Montreal were also directors and principal shareholders in C. Meredith & Co.

In 1902, Meredith was elected President of the Montreal Stock Exchange, a position he held until 1905. In 1910, he became President of Hillcress Collieries Ltd, and was a director of Tuckett Tobacco and the British & Colonial Press Service. He also sat on the Board of Arbitration and the Montreal Board of Trade. Meredith worked on the Exchange for nearly twenty years, and at his retirement was one of its oldest members. His business was largely of an investment class and he discouraged speculative ventures on the part of his clients, grounding his reputation in financial circles as one of the highest integrity. Due to failing health, Meredith was forced to retire from business life in 1924. He maintained a considerable financial interest and a friendly connection with his successors.