Part 2

HENRY R. GRAY.

Tangible evidence of the public spirit of Henry R. Gray is found in his service as chairman of the board of health and the radical and effective measures which he took in preventing the spread of a small-pox epidemic. He did equally efficient work in promoting sanitary conditions in Montreal along various lines and at the same time he occupied a prominent position as a representative of the pharmaceutical profession. He was born December 30, 1838, in Boston, Lincolnshire, England, and pursued his education at Standard Hill, Nottingham, the head master of the school being William Goodacre, the well known author of several standard educational works. He was afterward articled for five years to William March, chemist and apothecary, at Newark, England, and subsequently pursued a course of lectures on chemistry under the celebrated Roscoe in Manchester.

Coming to Canada when twenty-one years of age, Mr. Gray established his business in Montreal in 1859 and for several years devoted his attention to the study of sanitary science and particularly to the question of the sanitation of cities. He was connected with every movement to improve the sanitary condition of Montreal and his labors were of far-reaching benefit. He became one of the originators of the Pharmaceutical Association of the province, of which he was elected secretary and later treasurer and vice president. He was next called to the presidency, serving for three consecutive years and also as a member of the board of examiners. He became one of the charter members of the Montreal College of Pharmacy and for two years was its president.

In 1884 he was elected alderman of the St. Lawrence ward and soon afterward was unanimously chosen by the city council as chairman of the local board of health, serving in that difficult position during the whole of the disastrous epidemic of small-pox which devastated the city and province in 1885 and 1886. When the disease broke out and the death rate amounted to twenty-five per day, there was little civic organization to prevent the spread of disease or further the promotion of sanitary conditions. Vaccination was opposed, but Mr. Gray organized a vigorous campaign to stamp out the disease and obtained the passage of by-laws insisting on free and compulsory vaccination. He also organized a civic hospital and insisted on all the small-pox patients being sent to the isolation hospital. Through this and other emergency methods he allayed the general fear and stamped out the disease. It was in that year that he succeeded in getting a by-law through the city council requiring all household refuse to be cremated, and shortly afterward crematories were erected and a contract for five years’ collection and cremation given out.

After having served a three years’ term as alderman Mr. Gray declined reelection. He was appointed by the government a justice of the peace and a member of the council of public instruction for the province of Quebec and was elected to represent it on the corporation of the polytechnic school of this city. He was likewise a life governor of the Montreal General Hospital and the Notre Dame Hospital. When the public health act passed the legislature, shortly after the small-pox epidemic, Mr. Gray, who in addition to his aldermanic duties had been a member of the old central board of health for the province, was appointed a member of the new provincial board of health then created and remained a member until his death. In 1885 he was elected membre honoraire de la Société d’Hygiène Française of Paris, France. After his retirement from the city council he was requested by a number of leading citizens of all parties and creeds to accept the nomination of mayor, but owing to business reasons he was obliged to decline.

Mr. Gray married Miss Catherine Margaret McGale, the youngest daughter of the late Dr. Bernard McGale, who was a member of the army medical staff. Mr. Gray died February 18, 1908, and is survived by his wife, three daughters and a son, Dr. H. R. Dunstan Gray. The memory of his well spent life is cherished by all who were his contemporaries and his colleagues, and the worth of his work is recognized by all who know aught of the history of Montreal.

JAMES JOHNSTON.

Throughout an active, commercial career James Johnston was engaged in importing and dealing in English and foreign dry goods, in which connection he built up an enterprise of extensive and gratifying proportions, his becoming one of the leading commercial houses of Montreal. He was born March 20, 1849, a son of James and Mary (Burns) Johnston, both of whom were natives of Scotland, who, coming to the new world in early life, were married in Montreal. The father, who was born in 1819, passed away in this city on the 27th of May, 1882.

Spending his youthful days under the parental roof, James Johnston pursued his education in the schools of Montreal and Quebec and, entering business circles, he became connected with the firm of James Johnston & Company, importers of and dealers in dry goods of English and foreign manufacture, of which his father was the head. After the death of his father he became head of the business, devoting his entire attention to the development of a trade which grew to large and gratifying proportions, making his one of the leading dry-goods establishments in the city. Since his demise the store has been sold and is now conducted under the firm style of W. R. Brock Company, Ltd.

Mr. Johnston was married in Montreal, in 1876, to Miss Agnes Grant Robertson, a daughter of Andrew Robertson, who was a prominent resident of this city. By this marriage there were eight children of whom seven are living. The family circle was broken by the hand of death when on the 14th of July, 1899, James Johnston was called to his final rest. His interests and activities, aside from business, are indicated by the fact that he held membership in the St. James Club, the Metropolitan Club, the Hunt Club, the Forest and Stream Club, and St. Paul’s Presbyterian church. He was always actuated by high and manly principles and worthy motives, and he left to his family the priceless heritage of an untarnished name as well as the substantial reward of his business enterprise and sagacity.

MICHAEL JAMES WALSH.

Michael James Walsh is prominent along various lines of activity in Montreal, where he is widely known as a successful insurance broker but has also actively participated in an important way in political and governmental affairs and is moreover widely known in fraternal circles. Of good Irish stock, he has brought the sturdiness of his ancestors to the task at hand and has attained a success which entitles him to consideration as one of the substantial men of his community and a power for progress and improvement in the political field.

A native of Montreal, Michael James Walsh was born on the 2d of September, 1858, a son of Mark and Catherine (Nolan) Walsh, both natives of County Wexford, Ireland. The father was prominent as a contractor and everywhere in this city respected as a successful business man. Michael J. Walsh received his education at St. Ann’s parish, Christian Brothers School, and upon discontinuing his lessons became connected with the Grand Trunk and Canadian Pacific Railways, remaining for about ten years in their employ in their store departments. He then set out independently, becoming an insurance broker, and by native shrewdness and ability to understand commercial conditions has succeeded in building up a business which ranks him among the foremost men in his line in Montreal. When his private affairs permitted him to devote some of his time to the public weal he entered politics with the same zest as he displayed in his private business affairs and as a result was elected alderman of the St. Ann’s ward on February 1, 1902, continuing in that office for four years or until February 1, 1906, and doing valuable work in promoting measures which have been of far-reaching benefit to the city. On November 25, 1904, he was also elected a member of the Quebec provincial legislature and on December 28, 1908, reelected to that office, continuing therein until May 15, 1912. His legislative career has been one of success and his record has been so clear that his constituents may well be proud of their representative. He has done much in supporting valuable bills, especially those undertaken in the interest of his constituents, and has ever been active in committee rooms and on the floor of the house in sustaining or promoting constructive legislation. His political position is that of a liberal, and he always has been a stanch supporter of that grand man of the liberal party, Sir Wilfrid Laurier.

On October 9, 1882, at Montreal, in St. Henry parish church, Mr. Walsh was married to Mary Jane Barry, a daughter of David Barry, mechanical superintendent of the Canada Sugar Refinery, and Mary O’Leary, both natives of County Cork, Ireland. Mr. and Mrs. Walsh became the parents of two sons. Joseph Christopher Barry Walsh, B. A., B. C. L., is a well known notary public. The other son born to the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Walsh is David Robert Barry Walsh, who graduated from Loyola College and is now successfully engaged in the insurance business, being inspector for the Royal Exchange Association. Both sons are young men of excellent habits and qualifications.

As the years have passed Mr. Walsh has become connected with a number of outside interests and is now a director in the People’s Mutual Building Society and for many years has been a member of the Montreal Board of Trade, doing in that connection important work in promoting commercial expansion. Fraternally he is very prominent and has held high offices in the Knights of Columbus, the Catholic Order of Foresters, the Catholic Mutual Benefit Association, the Canadian Order of Foresters, the Royal Guardians, the Ancient Order of Hibernians and in St. Patrick’s Society. A man of varied and important interests, Mr. Walsh has made an honorable record in business as well as in municipal and provincial politics and enjoys the full confidence of the best classes of population. In him there is strongly developed the quality of loyalty, and it is his devotion to a cause which has led him into the important relations with which he is now connected. He may justly be classed with Montreal’s leading citizens, and the position which he has attained is the more creditable as it has been brought about entirely by his own efforts.

JAMES BELL, M. D.

Notable service in the field of abdominal surgery won for Dr. James Bell an international reputation. His broad study and research made him a scientist of renown and his opinions were largely accepted as authority by the profession which recognized him not only as an eminent surgeon, but equally capable educator. He was born at North Gower, Ontario, in 1852, and after acquiring his early education in local schools and by private tuition, he entered McGill University and was graduated as Holmes’ gold medallist in 1877, a fact indicative of the excellent work which he had done in his student days. He was immediately appointed house surgeon in the Montreal General Hospital, which position he held until 1882, gaining that broad practical experience and knowledge which only hospital practice can bring. In 1880 he became medical superintendent of the Montreal General Hospital and in 1885 was appointed to the position of assistant surgeon, followed by appointment as surgeon a year later. He filled the position with distinction for eight years and then became surgeon of the new Royal Victoria Hospital in 1894, remaining in that connection until his demise. As the years passed his skill and ability constantly increased and developed and his reputation spread abroad until he was acknowledged not only one of the eminent surgeons of Canada, but also, by reason of his specialty in abdominal work, as one of the most distinguished representatives of the profession on the American continent. He became just as widely known in connection with surgical work for the treatment of gall stones and kidney diseases. In addition to his other hospital service he was consulting surgeon of the Children’s Hospital. After going to Victoria Hospital he remained a consulting surgeon of the Montreal General Hospital and also acted in a similar capacity at the Maternity Hospital.

His connection with McGill University was equally brilliant, for through many years he was one of its able educators in the medical department. In 1888 he was appointed associate professor of clinical surgery. In 1890 he was made assistant professor of surgery and clinical surgery; in 1895, professor of clinical surgery, and in 1907, professor of surgery and clinical surgery. He held membership in the American Surgical Association and the Canadian Surgical Association, and he served as surgeon major in charge of the field hospital corps in the Riel rebellion, receiving a medal for his services, while between 1880 and 1888, he was surgeon to the Sixth Battalion of Fusiliers. He was the author of various valuable papers, including one entitled Tubercular Family History, and his contributions to the press have ever been eagerly received. He was the author of the chapter on Surgical Diseases and Wounds of the Kidneys and Ureters in American Practice of Surgery as well as numerous valuable treatises on the kidneys. He was a member of the Genito-Urinary branch of the American Medical Association in which he represented the Canadian Medical Association. As a diagnostician he had few equals and he possessed a medical technique that was marvelous. One of his strongest traits of character was his utter fearlessness. He spoke his own mind and was seldom misunderstood. He never catered to cheaply acquired popularity or public opinion and always had the courage of his convictions. He spoke what he thought to be the truth no matter who it opposed or offended. He thoroughly detested sham or deceit and was self-contained, quiet and self-reliant in connection with all of his professional service.

Dr. Bell was married in June, 1889, to Miss Edith Mary Arnton, the eldest daughter of the late John J. Arnton, of Montreal, and they had one son, James Stuart Ethelwyn Wallace, who was born February 15, 1899, and in accordance with the wish of his father is preparing for the medical course at McGill. Dr. Bell was a member of a number of the leading clubs, including St. James, the Montreal Jockey, the Mount Royal and the University Clubs. He was for more than twenty years one of the enthusiastic members of the Montreal Hunt Club and for many years followed the hounds. He greatly enjoyed outdoor life, much more than so-called society and said with Byron,

“I love not man the less but nature more.”

He was fond of hunting and fishing and it was his custom each year to hunt big game in New Brunswick where he was often a guest at August Belmont’s private shooting preserve. Dr. Bell was also a member of the Chapleau Club in the Laurentians where he went for his fishing. His country home, Saraguay, was his residence during four months in the year for more than eighteen years. Here he maintained a fine breeding establishment of driving and saddle horses and was able to gratify the great pleasure his excellent stock afforded him, for he was a lover of a good horse.

No man ever more fully, however, recognized the duties and obligations of the profession or more conscientiously met them. The regard entertained for him by his professional brethren is indicated in the fact that Dr. C. E. Church termed him “the ablest surgeon in America,” while Dr. T. G. Roddick said, “the death of Dr. James Bell is a distinct loss to the medical and surgical profession. He was a man of marked ability, with conscientious devotion to his work, which earned him the respect of his fellows, as well as success amongst his patients. And he was not only respected by the profession throughout the country, but loved by his friends.” In comment upon his death the Montreal Gazette wrote, “One of the men who have done much for the advancement of the medical profession in Canada passed away yesterday when Dr. James Bell, in the ripe fullness of a useful career, was carried off by appendicitis. It was by a curious irony of fate that Dr. Bell died most unexpectedly at the Royal Victoria Hospital, in whose wards still lay many upon whom he had operated, and whose lives he had probably saved by his skill. For many years Dr. Bell had been recognized as one of Canada’s leading surgeons, in fact one of the greatest surgeons in abdominal work on this continent and his services were in great demand, not only in Montreal, but wherever the work of a skillful scientist whose immediate judgment and power might be efficacious to save human life, was needed. Day by day he had been working in the operating room of the Royal Victoria Hospital and the sick rooms of patients, in circumstances where a single mistake might mean loss of life. The strain was much greater than ordinary people could have imagined. He was one of those men who devoted themselves to their work so well and performed it so efficiently that there was no need to fight for prominence. His work was such that it inevitably grew. As his ability became known his services became more in demand and in a quiet and conscientious way he gradually became one of the recognized surgical authorities of his time and one of the busiest. Not only in Montreal but in many parts of Canada he was called upon wherever there was a stern fight against death, and frequently he was called to exercise his skill even farther afield in the United States. Those who knew him as either surgeon or as friend will remember him as one who knew his work and did it well, without thought of public recognition.”

Dr. Bell was actively engaged in professional duties almost to the closing hours of his life. On the last day he visited Victoria Hospital he performed an operation in the forenoon. In the evening of the same day he was taken ill and the end came a few days later. The board of governors of the Royal Victoria Hospital caused to be made a bronze bust of Dr. Bell which was placed in the main hall of that hospital. The significance of this action is better understood when it is known that but one other bust is there shown--that of Queen Victoria.

JOSEPH OVIDE GRAVEL.

Joseph Ovide Gravel, for many years manager and executor of the John Pratt estate in Montreal and prominently connected with other important corporate and business interests of the city, was born here in 1839. He acquired his education in the commercial schools of the city and in 1854 began a business career which brought him constantly increasing prominence and prosperity. From that date until 1863 he was connected with the firm of Benning & Barsalou and was then made secretary-treasurer of the Canadian Rubber Company, taking an active part in the affairs of that concern until 1899. He was later a director in the Canadian Linseed Oil Mills, a trustee of the Guardian Assurance Company, president of the Sincennes-McNaughton line and of the Dominion Oil Cloth Company. He became known as a reliable, forceful and discriminating business man, one who always carried forward to successful completion whatever he undertook, and he made his ability and insight the basis of a substantial and well deserved success. He married Aurelie La Rocque. His son, C. E. Gravel, is now in charge of the Pratt estate and is ably carrying forward his father’s work in its management.

JOSEPH LOUIS ARCHAMBAULT.

Joseph Louis Archambault, of Montreal, whose reputation as a distinguished and able lawyer has made him well known throughout the province and who is now filling the position of city attorney, was born at Varennes, June 19, 1849, a son of the late J. N. A. and Aurelie (Mongeau) Archambault. The father, who was “a patriot of 1837,” became president of the provincial board of notaries in Quebec and was a distinguished representative of his profession. The son supplemented his early education by study in the College of St. Hyacinthe and in broad literary training laid the foundation upon which he has built the superstructure of professional knowledge. He pursued his law studies under the direction of the late Sir George Cartier and at the same time followed the law course in McGill University, which conferred upon him the B. C. L. degree in 1871. The same year he entered upon active practice as an advocate and has since remained a member of the Montreal bar, although his growing powers and capabilities have won him place among the leaders of the profession in the province. He was created a king’s counsel by the Marquis of Lansdowne in 1887 and became a member of the council of the bar in 1889. For some years he filled the position of crown prosecutor for the district of Montreal and has frequently pleaded before the judicial committee of the privy council in England, having charge of important cases from Canada. He became city attorney of Montreal in 1898 and in the discharge of his official duties has won high honors and encomiums. He has always enjoyed a large private practice and in following his profession has been associated successively as law partner with Sir J. A. Chapleau, Q. C., the Hon. J. A. Mousseau, Q. C. and the Hon. W. W. Linch, Q. C. He has written quite extensively on legal subjects for the newspaper and magazine press and is the author of a number of published volumes, including: Jacques Cartier, an Historical Drama (1879); Etude Legale sur l’Université Laval à Montreal (1880); Institutions Municipales (1887); Le Barreau Canadien au Conseil Privé (1889); Généalogie de la Famille Archambault, 1620-1890 (1891); La Bourgeoisie au Canada, Two Lectures (1894); The Criminal Forum in Canada (1895); and Etude de Moeurs Judiciares (1897). His opinions upon involved legal questions are largely accepted as authority by the profession and the public. He served as batonnier or president of the Montreal bar in 1912 and 1913. In addition to his law practice he is one of the directors of the Rolland Paper Company.

Mr. Archambault was married in Montreal in June, 1873, to Miss Ernestine, the eldest daughter of the late Senator Rolland, of Montreal. In religious faith Mr. and Mrs. Archambault are Catholics, and his political belief is that of the conservative party. He belongs to the Canadian Club and those who meet him socially find him an entertaining, genial and cultured gentleman whose ways are those of refinement and whose word no man can question. The Montreal Star has said of him: “His career has been marked with continuous success and great devotion to the legal profession.” His prominence is the logical outcome of well developed talents and powers and he is justly accounted today one of the leaders of the provincial bar.