Richard B. Angus - Private Life and Philanthropy

Private Life and Philanthropy

In 1878, Angus and his family moved into his new house on Drummond Street in the Golden Square Mile. Like many wealthy Montrealers, Angus had a passion for floriculture, particularly his beloved Orchids, and the house featured a large conservatory. His new home provided a suitable space for the art collection he had started with purchases from Montreal and London dealers in the late 1870s. His admired collection contained many fine examples from the European Masters. Angus served as President of the Art Association of Montreal, donating six paintings in 1889 - the most significant gift since the Association's foundation and the first major one in contemporary art. Before his house was demolished in 1957, it was the home of McGill University's Conservatory of Music.

In 1886, Angus built 'Pine Bluff' overlooking the Lake of Two Mountains, his country home on an estate at Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, near Senneville, Quebec. The house, which included an ice house and a peach house, was later remodelled, before being demolished in the 1950s. Despite the dawn of the automobile, when President of the Bank of Montreal in 1910, Angus was still seen every morning arriving at the bank's headquarters in his four-in-hand carriage. A "quiet, purposeful man" Angus enjoyed vigorous health, remaining active until the end of his life and embarking on a European tour in 1921, at the age of ninety.

Angus had become one of the wealthiest men in Montreal and was also well known for his philanthropic activities and generous donations to the causes to which he allied himself. He was President of the Royal Victoria Hospital, Montreal, and in 1906 co-founded the Alexandra Contagious Diseases Hospital, serving as a governor. He was President and Governor of the Fraser Institute Free Public Library; vice-president of the Victorian Order of Nurses, Governor of McGill University (to which he donated one of his more considerable sums) and Governor of the Montreal General Hospital. He was a director of the Charity Organization Society, which he generously funded, and an honourary member of the Antiquarian and Numismatic Society of Montreal.

As one of Montreal's most prominent Scots-Quebecers, he was elected President of the St Andrew's Society. In 1889, he co-founded the Mount Royal Club, where he was later President, and was a member of more than a dozen clubs throughout Canada, including: the St. James Club, of which he was formerly Chairman; the Montreal Jockey Club; the Auto Club and Aero Club; the Forest and Stream Club; the Winter Club; Rideau Club of Ottawa; the Toronto Club; the York Club of Toronto and the Manitoba Club of Winnipeg.