Andrew Bannatyne
Andrew Graham Ballenden Bannatyne | |
---|---|
Born | October 31, 1829 |
Died | May 18, 1889 |
Nationality | Scottish |
Occupation | Canadian politician, fur trader |
Andrew Graham Ballenden Bannatyne (October 31, 1829 – May 18, 1889) was a Canadian politician, fur trader and leading citizen of Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Bannatyne was born on the island of South Ronaldsay, Orkney, in Scotland and was three years old when his father, a British government fisheries official in Stromness, died.[1] He joined the Hudson's Bay Company as a 14-year-old apprentice clerk and set sail for Canada. His family had had a long association with the company. Bannatyne's great-grandfather was governor of a Hudson's Bay Company district in Rupert's Land, his grandfather had been governor of York Factory, and his uncle was chief factor of the company.[2] He was assigned to Sault Ste. Marie for two years, joining his uncle, and was then transferred to Fort Garry.[2]
From 1846, Bannatyne was stationed at Norway House, Rupert's Land, in what is now Manitoba as a junior clerk at the trading post. He quit the company when his contract expired in 1851[1] in order to get married and go into business for himself in the Red River Colony, where he was arrested by the Hudson's Bay Company for illegal trading, which was a violation of the company's monopoly over the fur trade.[3] He was released in a decision by the company's London office and established what became the largest merchant and outfitting company in the Red River Colony with Alexander Begg.[3] Bannatyne became possibly the wealthiest and most influential citizen in Red River Colony.[2]
He was appointed magistrate in 1861 and became a member of the Council of Assiniboia in 1868, which was the appointed administrative body of Rupert's Land.[3]
During the Red River Rebellion Bannatyne agreed to serve as postmaster in Louis Riel's in 1869 on the condition that the rebel government seek terms with Canada.[3]
After Manitoba was created as a province in 1870, the first session of the Manitoba legislature was held in four rooms of Bannatyne's Winnipeg house.[2]
In 1871, he was appointed Winnipeg's first postmaster and also helped establish the freemasons in Manitoba.[3]
He was appointed to the Temporary North-West Council in 1872. In the 1874 federal election, he was defeated in his bid for a federal parliamentary seat in Selkirk, being narrowly defeated by Hudson's Bay Company official Donald A. Smith,[2] but was elected in 1875 to the House of Commons of Canada as the Liberal MP for Provencher, filling a vacancy caused by the expulsion of Riel from the House of Commons and his banishment from Canada.[3] He retired from politics in 1878.[2]
Bannatyne helped organize the Winnipeg General Hospital and was involved in other business and philanthropic ventures in Winnipeg.[3] He was the first president of Winnipeg's Board of Trade and first president of the Manitoba Club.[2]
After becoming a very rich man, Bannatyne was virtually wiped out when the land boom crashed in 1882.[1] His heavy indebtedness worsened his already poor health, and he began to winter in the southern United States in order to ease his constitution.[2]
He died in Minnesota in 1889[3] while returning from Texas.[2]
Bannatyne Avenue and École Bannatyne in Winnipeg are named after him.[3]
There is a Bannatyne Drive in Toronto (former North York) west off Leslie Street north of York Mills.[4]
References[]
- ^ a b c BANNATYNE, ANDREW GRAHAM BALLENDEN, Dictionary of Canadian Biography
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Andrew Graham Ballenden Bannatyne (1829–1889): First Citizen of Winnipeg by Dr. Ross Mitchell, Manitoba Pageant, Autumn 1965, Volume 11, Number 1
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Andrew Graham Ballenden Bannatyne (1829–1889), Manitoba Historical Society
- ^ google maps
External links[]
- 1829 births
- 1889 deaths
- People from Orkney
- People of the Red River Rebellion
- Canadian philanthropists
- Hudson's Bay Company people
- Liberal Party of Canada MPs
- Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Manitoba
- Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories
- Pre-Confederation Canadian businesspeople
- Scottish emigrants to pre-Confederation Ontario
- Canadian fur traders
- Canadian postmasters
- Members of the Legislative Assembly of Assiniboia
- Scottish emigrants to pre-Confederation Manitoba
- 19th-century philanthropists