Vincent Meredith

Sir Henry Vincent Meredith, 1st Baronet (February 28, 1850 – February 24, 1929), was a Canadian banker and philanthropist. He was president of the Bank of Montreal, the Royal Victoria Hospital and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. His home in Montreal's Golden Square Mile was made a National Historic Site of Canada in 1990 and is today part of McGill University, named Lady Meredith House for his wife. Meredith was one of a group of brothers collectively referred to as 'The Eight London Merediths' They included Sir William Ralph Meredith, Chief Justice Richard Martin Meredith, Thomas Graves Meredith and Charles Meredith. When Meredith 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. Meredith successfully guided the nation's economy through the First World War. He served as chairman of the board of the Canadian Pacific Railway from his retirement until his death two years later. He had little academic education, but he formed his mind and character in the school of a long and complex experience. If any man were asked to ascribe the influence of Sir Vincent Meredith upon Canadian affairs, he would unhesitatingly ascribe it to rare character of character.