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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1975-06-26, Page 70— Smith's Bank in London, next Martin Tuchermnith Canada Cothpany director named the township to the Lord Mayor's residence. a- By Dr. A. W. Currie, Parkhill The director of the Canada Company, prominent banker, and member of the British Parliament whose name is perpetuated in the township near SeafOrth was, legally known by the above name in England.Even so, in the Debates of the Commons he was referred to as Tucker Smith and in the index to. the Debates as M.T.Sraith.' In Canada his middle and last names were run together, probably to avoid confusion with Smithville in the Niagara peninsula, Smithfield near Belleville, and with Smith's Creek, now Port Hope. In the remainder of this article the 411 godfather of the township will be called TuckerSraith. Nowadays his relatives in Britain go under hyphenated names (Abel-Smith, Ridley-Smith and Smith-Dorrien;, titles4Lord-Bicester -and Baron-- C.arrington), and the quite different names which women acquire on marriage. Tuckersmith's first ancestor of whom we have record was Thomas Smith (1‘1-99) of Nottingham in central England. He was a mercer who gradually developed a banking business. Talmically a mercer is a dealer in silks, velvets, and other fancy cloth .But since Nottingham was one of the firstplaces in the world to spin and weave, wool and cotton by means of power-driven machinery, it is probably not unfair to call Thomas Smith a manufacturer or a wholesaler of textiles...Lt :was only.. after his death when his family had come up in the world that he became connected with what the Bible calls purple and fine linen. During Thomas Smith's lifetime, as earlier, well-to-do people often left silver and gold coins, plate and other valuables with a trustworthy merchant for safe-keeping. Sometimes they paid him for his work as custodian, just as today we pay rent for a safe deposit box. But frequently the merchant would use the coins in his own business or put them up as Security for his promissory or bank notes. Soon, these part-time bankers were paying interest to depositors in order to increase the, amount of coin and other wealth at their command. Moreover, Thomas Smith had to arrange to pay for the raw cotton and wool he used In his factories and he had to collect the proceeds of the sale of finished textiles in England or abroad. Accordingly, the "mercer" was inevitably drawn into finance. One of Thomas Smith's grandsons became associated with John Payne (1708-64), a linen draper of London. By 1758 the firm of Smith and Payne had starting banking in Nottingham taking over from a Smith's Bond already decades old. By 1780 or thereabouts Tuckersmith's ancestors .were carrying on banking in'Nottingham, London, Lincoln, and Hull. Each of these banks had the word Smith in its title but the rest of the names varied. The banks cooperated in day-to-day business but none was ever a branch or subsidiary of another. Each was legally a separate institution 'and a family enterprise, in reality a sort of partnership. By contrast, present- day commercial banks in Canada are specially chartered limited liability companies. Any member of the public can become a' shareholder or part -OWner in them • ABEl, SMITH horn 1717, died 1788. by buying shares in the market. Driving Force The driving force behind the expansion of Tuckersmith's family - enterprise was his grandfather, Abel Smith (1717-88), a grandson of the original Thomas Smith of Nottingham. In 1773 Abel started the firm of Smith, Payne and Smiths in London. After renting various premises, in 1806 this bank purchased land and in 1834 erected a new building at 1.. Lombard Street. This is more or less directly across a square westerly of the Bank ofEngland and just south of a narrow lane separating it from Mansion. House, the official residence of the Lord Mayor of London. In 1902 the family-owned,- financially-sound, and well- known firm of Smith, Payne & Smiths was acquired by a large chartered bank, later called the National Westminster. The acquisition was part of a policy of consolidation which had been going on in England for some years. , Moreover, some sqhabbling had lately developed between the four banks which included the word Smith in their title. The bank which absorbed Smith, Payne and Smiths retained the latter's building and the word Smiths still st ands above the doorway. Inside is a plaque in memory of the twelve lineal descendants of Thomas Smith who were killed in action in World War I and eleven in World War II. The original board room is preserved. It is dominated by a large portrait of Abel Smith, and around the walls are numerous other mementoes. Included among them are two cheques which H.M.Stanley cashed in Africa while on his search for David Livingstone. The directors' table is also preserved. It is square with one seat on each side so that, presumably, no one director could be said to dominate the Board by sitting at the head of the table. The words Lombard Street are often used to describe the financial world of LAtion and in fact of England generally, just as Wall Street stands for big business interests in New York and Bay Street for those in Toronto. It should be a matter of pride to residents of Tuckersmith • to know that the family name of their godfather appears so prominently at No. 1, Lombard Street. As already mentioned, Abel Smith was the poWer behind the expansion of his family's bank. The maiden name of his wife was Mary Bird. Her sister was the mother of William Wilberforce, the liberator of slaves in the British Empire. Abel Smith was a Member of Parliament and so was every one of his five sons. One of his sons went to the House of Lords as explained later. In the days when -the-number of qualified-Via ers in any riding was negligible judged by today's standards and when people voted openly, it was not too difficult for a man with money and a good family background to be elected to the British House. Abel's, youngest son (end 'the father of Tuckersmith) was John (1767 - 1842). He was a member for 33 years and was active in banking. He was the husband of Mary Tucker, the daughter of a lieutenant-colonel. In its obituary of John Smith, The Times of London stated that he had died "extremely wealthy," the bulk of his estate going to his eldest son, John Abel Smith, (1802-71)) M.P., of Belgrave Square which was then, as now, a rather exclusive residential area in London.Even so, John Abel was looked upon as a radical for he advocated reform of the House of Commons, the abolition of pocket boroughs, and the removal of legal disabilities against Roman Catholics and Jews. One of his sons becarne (Governor 'of the Bank of England, and a grandson was created Lord Bicester whose descendants still hold that title. Tuckersmlth John Abel's younger brother, whom we have decided to call Tuckersmith, was born in July 1803, either in London or at his parent's country home at Dale Park in Surrey, south of metropolitan London. In 1831 he married Louise, the third daughter of Matthew White Ridley, M.P. for Newcastle-on- Tyne. In the same year he was elected to Parliament for Midhurst but retired in 1832, probably as a result of the famous Reform Bill of that year. Meanwhile, Tuckersmith had been elected a director of the Canada Company which had been set up in 1825 as a result of the efforts of John Galt, a Scottish novelist The crash of theLondon money market in that year nearly ruined the Company and It did not really get underway until later in the decade. In order to scrape enough capital together, Galt tried to attract men of wealth and high reputation in the financial world of London.This accounts for Tuckersmith becoming a director of the Canada Company while still barely in his t wentles. The company's first Board contained a number of prominent figures whose names, like that of Tuckersmith, have been given to townships in Huron, Perth, Middlesex and Lambton counties, the area originally called the Huron Tract. John Fullarton, Henry Usborne and Wins T. The township had a considerable stream offering great advantages for mill-seats (now called mill- sites) and for hydraulic purposes (that is, for water-wheels). Land was available' from" the Canada Company at an average price of ten shillings ($2.50) an acre, a little more being charged for exceptionally,good locations. The minimum purchase was 200 acres. Payment could be spread over five years without, as we would say, interest or carrying charges. $15 Fare Acdrding to the Report, the adult fare across the Atlantic to Quebec City was about three pounds sterling or $15, children half price, provisions not eincluded. Immigrants had to supply their own food for a voyage that would take a month or more, and cook it aboard a rolling, pitching shipas best they might. Other sources state that the cost including food of travelling up the St. Lawrence River and westward across lake Ontario would cost another three pounds. For the last ,part of their journey to the Huron Tract, immigrants walked with whatever supplies they had been able to bring strapped to their backs. The road, which the Canada Company said had been built, was likely little better than a winding trail between stumps. The Report of 1830 asserted that comfortable accommodation was available at the taverns in York, now called Toronto. Board and lodging for a grown-up person cost about six shillings ($1.50) a week. Perhaps all these prices were slightly on the low side for the Company was anxious to induce settlers into the Huron Tract and sell its lands at a profit. Emigrants were advised to leave their homeland early in the year in order to complete their log cabins' before cold weather set in. The Canada Company soon discovered that both its price per acre and its minimum-sized lot weretoo high and so it reduced both. Nevertheless, it remained unpopular in Canada as the care of Tiger Dunlop proved. et it con 'nued to make money, often eying substantial dividends until about the end of the cen ry. After 1900 its earnings s eadily declined but by this tune i had paid back almost all the capital its shareholders (Continued-on Page 31) , JUNE 29, 9975 —29 Hibbert had been active in the export' of Canadian timber through the port of Quebec to Britain. Hart Logan was a Scot whose firm acted as agents for the Canada Company in Montreal. Sir Robert Wilmot-Horton went on to become a leader in the affairs of the East 'India Company. I have been unable to discover the main business of James McKillop but Sir John Easthope was the wealthy founder of a newspaper, the London Chronicle, later called the News-Chronicle, which folded up barely a decade ago. His son-in-law, Simon McGillivray was a fur-trader with the North- West Company of London and Montreal. Robert Downie was M.P. for a Scottish riding. The other directors, Charles Bosanquet, William Williams, Robert Biddulph and John Hullett were all bankers while .Th omas Henry Blanshard owned 14 or 15 ships trading' with the East Indies. Officials Stephen and Hay were officials in the Colonial Office and may have been of help to Galt when he applied for a charter for the Canada_ Company. Mr. Under- Secretary Stephen, as he was commonly called, was the grandfather of the novelist, Virginia Woolf. The Report of the Court of Directors of the Canada Company to the Proprietors (shareholders) dated June, 1830, and signed by Tuckersmith and his associates states that .a road had been completed from Goderich through Wilmot and Guelph to the head of Lake Ontario (Burlington or Hamilton) and Yorktoronto). Goderich already had a tavern and a sawmill. Its people were planning a brewery, distillery, brick kilns, a grist mill, and harbour works. Its harbour could accommodate vessels of 200 tons burthen or carrying capacity. In ,this connection a ton means 40 cubic feet but the scheme of measurement used by the British Admiralty was so complex that to state that the hold or cargo space of such a vessel was 8000 cubic feet is only a very rough approximation of the truth. The Report goes on to state that the scenery on the River Maitland had been described as more English than any other in North America. A large block in the Township of Wilmot had already- been surveyed. Schools, churches and roads were being built there. THE HURON EXP.OSOTO