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Sir David Lewis MacPherson

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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SIR DAVID LEWIS MACPHERSON (1818-1896), Canadian financier and politician, was born at Castle Leathers, near Inverness, Scotland, on the 12th of September 1818. In 1835 he emigrated to Canada, settling in Montreal, where he built up a large fortune by "forwarding" merchandise. In 1853 he removed to Toronto, and in the same year obtained the contract for building a line of railway from Toronto to Sarnia, a project from which sprang the Grand Trunk railway, in the construction of which line he greatly increased his wealth. In 1864 he was elected to the Canadian parliament as member of the Legislative Council for Saugeen, and on the formation of the Dominion, in 1867, was nominated to the Senate. In the following years he published a number of pamphlets on economic subjects, of which the best-known is Banking and Currency (1869). In 1880 he was appointed Speaker of the Senate, and from October 1883 till 1885 was minister of the interior in the Conservative cabinet. In 1884 he was knighted by Queen Victoria. He died on the 16th of August 1896.