William Collis Meredith - Private Life

Private Life

On moving from their house in Montreal to Quebec City in 1849, the Merediths lived at 19 St. Ursule Street, a large, three storey, brick house with room for five live-in servants. In 1866 he built a summer house, 'Rosecliff' in the hamlet of St. Patrick, outside Rivière-du-Loup (where he owned 1,400 acres (5.7 km2) of farmland). In Quebec City he owned three further houses and two barn stables. He kept five pleasure carriages, sleighs, two wagon-sleds, three horses and one milk cow. When he became financially independent in 1830, Meredith had purchased four village-town lots in the region of Romney, Kent, Upper Canada, that turned out to be an important investment in consequence of the railway that was later built there.

Frances (Feo) Monck, the sister-in-law of the then Governor-General Charles Stanley Monck, gave an unusually long account of a party - or ‘drum’ as it was known, given by Judge Meredith in her book, ‘My Canadian Leaves, An Account of a Visit to Canada, 1864–1865’ :

Dick and I, and Captain Pem. Are going, I hope, to-night to a ‘drum’ at Judge Meredith’s. . . . There was a very large party, and the house is large. I was much amused and talked to many people, among others to M. Duvergier-d’Hauranne, a young Frenchman, who is come over here to travel, and has brought a letter to the Governor-General from Lord Clarendon. His father was a well-known man in France under Louis Phillipe. My friend, Sir R.M. (Sir Richard Graves MacDonnell, William’s first cousin who spent a year in Canada as Governor of Nova Scotia in 1864) rushed to me, and asked me to walk about with him, and invited us to Government House (Nova Scotia) at H. (Halifax), which he told me was much finer and larger than ‘Spencer’s Wood’ (the Governor-General’s vice regal seat at Quebec). Lady M (Lady Blanche MacDonnell) and Dick flirted together for a long time; she is so pretty and pleasant. A Miss Tilstone sang - a handsome girl with a pretty voice. Then a Madame Taschereau sang - good voice; and then THE man sang, Mr Antoine Chartier de Lotbiniere Harwood (the great uncle of the wife of one of his grandsons), an M.P.P., half French. He has a very fine voice, and is a pupil of Garcia’s. He was offered an engagement at the Italian Opera, London. The large rooms were too small for his voice, which wants modulation. I got quite giddy with the loudness of it ! He sang from operas; he wants expression and more teaching. Judge Meredith introduced him to me, and he sang again, for me !