Vincent Meredith - Bank of Montreal

Bank of Montreal

After an initial education at "a home rich in cultural elements", he briefly attended the Hellmuth Boys College at London, Ontario, before joining the Bank of Montreal as a clerk in 1867. He steadily rose through the ranks to become the first Canadian born president of the bank from 1913 to 1927. From his retirement until his death two years later, he served as Chairman of the Board. In Meredith's time, before the creation of the Bank of Canada in 1934, the Bank of Montreal acted as Canada's national bank, and Meredith successfully guided the nation's economy through the First World War. When he was elected president in 1913, the bank had assets worth $244 million which had tripled to $831 million when he resigned his presidency in 1927. Along with his cousins, the brothers William Henry Meredith (1849–1895) and Frederick Edmund Meredith, he was one of three Merediths to have attained high position within the bank. As president, Sir Vincent's office was at the bank's headquarters at 119 St. James Street in Montreal, Quebec. When he retired as president of the bank in 1927, The Banker, published in London, England, summed up the effect he had had on Canadian financial affairs during his time at the bank,

It is now sixty years since Sir Vincent Meredith entered the service of the Bank of Montreal, and it is only barely true to say that much of its present power and prosperity is due to his zeal and capacity. To form a just idea of his achievements, it is necessary to take a view of the resources of the Bank of Montreal sixty years ago. It was then a comparatively small bank, with no great influence upon the industrial and financial affairs of Canada. Doubtlessly the main cause of its growth is the extraordinary growth of Canada. Many tell us that no one man, however zealous and competent, can multiply the resources and influence of a bank or of any other business. They tell us the truth. Such mighty work can only be done by a great company of men of divers parts. Many of them must remain in important but inconspicuous employments, receiving little reward for their labors, the chief credit being given to those at the head of affairs. But this does not diminish the work of a man such as Sir Vincent Meredith. All the eminent offices he acquired and holds in the Bank of Montreal were won by no other means than he derived from his native abilities, integrity and constancy. He had little academic education, but he formed his mind and character in the school of a long and complex experience. He has not only grown with Canada, and the Bank of Montreal, but has helped to strengthen and fashion both. There is nothing of more consequence to a nation, a bank, or any other institution than the character of its rulers and leaders. This is especially true of a new country, such as Canada. If any man were asked to account for the influence of Sir Vincent Meredith upon Canadian affairs, he would unhesitatingly ascribe it to rare force of character. When one considers the work of Sir Vincent Meredith, it is impossible to refuse him the praise of being the most eminent of living Canadian bankers

Among many other positions, Vincent Meredith was a member of the Montreal Board of Trade, a member of the Board of Directors of Canadian Pacific Railway; the Royal Exchange Assurance Co., of London, England; the Royal Trust Assurance Co., of Montreal (also serving as that company's President for a time); the Standard Life Assurance Company of Edinburgh and Dominion Textile. He served as Governor of McGill University, President of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, and President of the Royal Victoria Hospital. He was created a hereditary Baronet of the United Kingdom by King George V for his wartime services to Canada and the British Empire in 1916.