Hugh Allan

Born at Saltcoats in North Ayrshire, Scotland, he was the second son of Captain Alexander Allan and Jean Crawford (1782–1856). He was a first cousin of Sir Alexander Tilloch Galt, and his father was a first cousin of the Scottish bard, Robert Burns. In 1819, Allan's father established the Allan Shipping Line, which became synonymous with transporting goods and passengers between Scotland and Montreal. Allan received a parish education at Saltcoats before starting work in 1823 at the family's counting house of Allan, Kerr & Co., of Greenock. Three years later, he was sent by his father to Montreal to work as a clerk for a grain merchant, William Kerr. In 1830, he took a year off to travel through his native Scotland (he later named his home, Ravenscrag, after his favourite childhood haunt in Ayrshire) and continued via London, New York and Upper Canada.

At Montreal on August 13, 1844, Allan married Matilda Caroline Smith (1828–1881), the eldest of the four daughters of Betsy Rea and her husband John Smith (d. 1872) of Athelstane Hall, Montreal. John Smith was a native of Athelstaneford in Scotland and became one of Montreal's leading dry goods merchants. Caroline's sister, Isabella, married Allan's brother Andrew in 1848. Her two other sisters married respectively Hartland St. Clair MacDougall (brother of George Campbell MacDougall) and James St. George Bellhouse, of the firm of Bellhouse & Dillon. Lady Allan died in Montreal in June 1881, aged 53.

They were the parents of nine daughters and four sons, including:

Alexander Rea Allan (2 Aug 1845 – 29 Jun 1901), who "was not cut out for business". He married Eva Belford Travers, daughter of John N. Travers and a niece of General James Travers, V.C. The couple lived with their son, (Hugh) Travers, at 112 King Street in Brockville, Ontario, where he managed the Bank of Montreal office.

Elizabeth Allan (9 Oct 1847 - 12 June 1921) married Asst-Surgeon (later Brigade-Surgeon) George Carson Gribbon, MB (1836-1894) in May 1867 while his regiment, the 25th (King's Own Borderers) Regiment of Foot, was garrisoned in Montreal. They had five children.

Jane Crawford Allan (9 July 1849- 6 May 1931), married 21 Oct 1867, Asst-Surgeon (later Major) Thomas Dodd Milburne, whose regiment, the 13th Hussars, was stationed in Canada from 1866 to 1869.

Phoebe Mary Allan (1852–1904), married on March 1, 1877, Sir George Lauderdale Houstoun-Boswall, 3rd Bart., grandson of General Sir William Houston, 1st Baronet. Lady Houstoun-Boswall was the mother of one daughter and two sons.

Matilda Isabella Allan (1854–1932), died unmarried.

Florence Adelaide Allan (1857–1942), married businessman Alfred H. White of Quebec City, and following his death, Major General J.F. Wilson. The White daughters, Gladys and Eileen, both married sons of John Ogilvie, brother of William Watson Ogilvie and one of the founders of Ogilvie Mills. Gladys married Capt.(later Brig. Gen.) Alexander Thomas Ogilvie, and Eileen married realtor Douglas Watson Ogilvie. Dorothy White married Montreal lawyer, John Wilson Cook.

Margaret Macfie Allan (1858–1939), married veterinarian Dr. Charles McEachran (1864–1919) of Montreal.

Sir Montagu Allan (1860–1951), vice-chairman of the Allan Line, President of the Merchants Bank. Principal heir of his father, he inherited Ravenscrag and married, in 1893, Marguerite Ethel Mackenzie. Their four children, including Martha Allan, predeceased them.

Bryce James Allan (1862–1924), managed the Allan Line from Boston. He was educated at Bishop's College School and in France and Germany. He lived at "Allanbank" near Boston (now known as Tupper Manor and part of Endicott College). In 1896, he married Anna, daughter of General Francis Winthrop Palfrey of Boston.

Edythe Maud Allan (1863–1946), married (James) Turner Routledge (d. 1899). They purchased one of her father's farms, "Belmere" in Georgeville, Quebec, and were the parents of two sons, Lieut. Allan (d. 1916) and Maj. James Colin (d. 1977).

Mabel Gertrude Allan (1867–1955), married Colin Augustus Monk Campbell (1860–1926), Seigneur de Rouville. He was the son of Major Thomas Edmund Campbell and Henriette-Julie, daughter of Captain Michel-Louis Juchereau Duchesnay. They lived at Manoir Rouville-Campbell in St. Hilaire, Quebec. Two children survived infancy: Enid Margaret (Mrs. Joseph C. Wray), and Phoebe Duchesnay.

Arthur Edward Allan (1871–1893), died young in an accidental fire.

At the same time that Allan was falling out with the Grand Trunk Railway, the Canadian government had committed to building a railway across to British Columbia. Though slow to move into the railway business, by the 1870s, Allan had become Canada's most flamboyant railway entrepreneur. He helped to place trusted colleagues (such as his lawyer John Abbott, agent Louis Beaubien and the politician John Hamilton) in senior positions with railways connected to the venture. Allan himself invested heavily, particularly in those that would link the Port of Montreal to the Canadian West, and he became president of the Montreal Northern Colonization Railway in 1871. Garnering the support of French-Canada (helped in a large part by his relationship with Antoine Labelle), Allan's railway gained major benefits in Quebec, including a $1 million subscription from the City of Montreal. Allan was reckoned the most influential capitalist in 1870s Canada, and having staved off American interest in the Pacific Railway, he was the logical choice for winning the contract.

He created a syndicate to build the national railway, promised as a condition of British Columbia joining Confederation. To ensure the contract, he bribed Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald, subscribing over $350,000 for Macdonald's re-election campaign in 1872, but the Pacific Scandal (and Macdonald's defeat) ended his dreams of supremacy in the railway business. However, through his bank, the Merchants' Bank of Canada, he still financed and maintained a vested interest in many of the Canadian railway companies.