James McGill

February 7, 2013 by Tartan Footprint

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James McGill (October 6, 1744–December 19, 1813) was a Scottish-Canadian businessman and philanthropist. He was also a prominent member of the Château Clique. Born on Stockwell Street in Glasgow, Scotland and educated at Glasgow University, he had emigrated to Canada by 1766, and entered the fur trade south of the Great Lakes, at first as a clerk or agent for the Quebec merchant, William Grant of St. Roch[1]. By the next year, the firm of "James McGill & Co." was trading at Michilimackinac [2]. In 1773, McGill joined with Isaac Todd in a trading venture beyond Grand Portage, which was renewed under the name Todd & McGill in 1776 [3]. This partnership was important in the formation of what would become the North West Company. Todd & McGill prospered, as one of the main firms supplied by the London commission merchant, John Strettell. The partnership did not participate in the North West Company after 1783, but it continued in the so-called "Southwest trade" in the Mississippi valley until Michilimackinac was handed over to the Americans in 1796. It was also involved in other enterprises, but few business papers have survived, making a detailed account difficult. McGill was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada for Montreal West in 1792 and appointed to the Executive Council in 1793. He was elected again in 1800 and in Montreal East in 1804. He was the first honorary Lieutenant-Colonel of the regiment The Canadian Grenadier Guards, which name is marked upon the replicated cairn that stands before the Arts building of McGill University. As a fur trader, slave owner and land owner, he further diversified his activities into land speculation. By 1810 had abandoned the fur trade altogether. Rumoured to be the richest man in Montreal, he left a great deal of money to charity, including an estate and £10,000 to the Royal Institution for the Advancement of Learning to found McGill University. James McGill was buried, alongside his fur-trading associate, John Porteous, in the old Protestant "Dufferin Square Cemetery". When the cemetery was eradicated in 1875, his remains were reinterred in front of the Arts Building on the university campus. Plaques are displayed on Stockwell Street, Glasgow commemorating his birthplace and his foundation of the university, and in the undercroft of Bute Hall at Glasgow University, recognizing the historic link between Glasgow and McGill universities. The birthplace is now home to a chain of a popular William Hill betting shop.

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