Edwin Henry King (December 1828 – April 14, 1896) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

banker. Born in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, King emigrated to Canada in 1850. He joined the Bank of Montreal in 1857, became general manager at age 35. He held the manager position from 1863 to 1869 and was president of the bank from 1869 to 1873, the youngest person to hold that position. King was ruthless in his promotion of the Bank of Montreal and was described as "a little god who dares to treat the representatives of all other banks" in an insulting manner, a "truculent and uncompromising" fellow, and "very peculiar." He moved the bank into the professional realm, focusing on commercial credit. His personality and business practices angered many Toronto capitalists leading one of the bank's directors, Senator

William McMaster William McMaster (24 December 1811 – 22 September 1887) was a Canadian wholesaler, senator and banker in the 19th century. A director of the Bank of Montreal from 1864 to 1867, he was a driving force behind the creation of the Canadian ...

, to found the

Canadian Bank of Commerce The Canadian Bank of Commerce was a Canadian bank which was founded in 1867, and had hundreds of branches throughout Canada. It merged in 1961 with the Imperial Bank of Canada to form the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. History In 1866 a ...

. Taking advantage of the instability caused by the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

, he positioned the Bank of Montreal to be the leading bank in the New York gold market. The Bank became the primary fiscal agent for the government of Canada. King advocated for a new banking system which would have benefited larger, more stable banks like the Bank of Montreal triggering a political backlash that led to the passage of the

Bank Act The ''Bank Act'' (1991, c. 46) (the ''Act'') is an act of the Parliament of Canada respecting banks and banking. History The ''Bank Act'' was originally passed in 1871. The terms of the ''Act'' provide for a statutory review of the ''Act'' ...

in 1871. Historian Oscar Douglas Skelton called him "the most striking figure in Canadian banking history".

References

* 1828 births 1896 deaths Bank of Montreal presidents Irish emigrants to pre-Confederation Quebec Immigrants to the Province of Canada Anglophone Quebec people {{Canada-business-bio-stub