Robert Armour (June 13, 1781 – April 16, 1857) was a Canadian businessman and publisher. Born in

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock (, sco, Kilmaurnock; gd, Cill Mheàrnaig (IPA: ʰʲɪʎˈveaːɾnəkʲ, "Marnock's church") is a large town and former burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland and is the administrative centre of East Ayrshire, East Ayrshire Council. ...

, Scotland, he immigrated to Montreal in 1798. He ran a merchandising business unsuccessfully, misspending public funds. In 1816 he joined with other Montreal businessmen to create the

Bank of Montreal The Bank of Montreal (BMO; french: Banque de Montréal, link=no) is a Canadian multinational investment bank and financial services company. The bank was founded in Montreal, Quebec, in 1817 as Montreal Bank; while its head office remains in ...

. In 1827 he was appointed to the office of the king's publisher and bought the ''

Montreal Gazette The ''Montreal Gazette'', formerly titled ''The Gazette'', is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Three other daily English-language newspapers shuttered at various times during the second half of th ...

''. After selling his shares of the newspaper to his son's firm, he ran various dry goods firms.

Early life and early career

Armour was born on June 13, 1781, in

, Scotland. His father was a shoemaker named Robert Armour, and his mother was Jean Shaw.

Career

He arrived in Montreal in 1798. He worked as an auctioneer and was a partner in a merchants firm called Henderson, Armour and Company. He was appointed as a warden of Trinity House in 1815, a Montreal organisation that regulated the shipping industry along the

St. Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connecting ...

. By 1815 he joined Montreal's 1st Militia Battalion and remained until 1821. In 1816 he was appointed as a commissioner for improving inland navigation and became a partner in the Quebec Steamboat Company.

Montreal businesses

In 1816, Armour was facing legal problems as his merchandising business was failing financially and Armour had misspent over £5,000 in public funds. He joined with eight other Montreal businessmen to create the

. Armour and a business partner were running a general store on St. Paul Street, but the store was financially unsuccessful and went into

receivership In law, receivership is a situation in which an institution or enterprise is held by a receiver—a person "placed in the custodial responsibility for the property of others, including tangible and intangible assets and rights"—especially in ca ...

. The bank negotiated to rent the property with the assignees to the property. It is unknown how Armour's financial struggles ended. Two years later Armour was the cashier of Bank of Canada, an institution that was unsuccessful and bought by the Bank of Montreal in 1831. In 1820 he was in Montreal, selling insurance and dry goods, and owned shares in a steamboat called ''Car of Commerce'', which travelled between Montreal and Quebec City. He was also a director for the newly-built

Montreal General Hospital The Montreal General Hospital (MGH) (french: Hôpital Général de Montréal) is a hospital in Montreal, Quebec, Canada established in the years 1818-1820. The hospital received its charter in 1823. It is currently part of the McGill University ...

Publishing career

In 1827, Armour was appointed to the office of the

king's printer The King's Printer (known as the Queen's Printer during the reign of a female monarch) is typically a bureau of the national, state, or provincial government responsible for producing official documents issued by the King-in-Council, Ministers o ...

for Montreal. Later that year he used his children's inheritance from his deceased wife to purchase and invest in the ''

''. In 1828, he transferred ownership of the newspaper to his children as collateral while he repaid the money, and continued to operate the company. Ownership was transferred back to Armour when the debt was repaid. The ''Gazette'' aligned with the

Tory A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. Th ...

political ideology, printing merchant complaints about the

Constitutional Act 1791 The Clergy Endowments (Canada) Act 1791, commonly known as the Constitutional Act 1791 (), was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain which passed under George III. The current short title has been in use since 1896. History The act refor ...

and an increase of immigrants from Britain to Canada. In 1828, Armour published editions of ''The Montreal almanack, or Lower Canada register'', a paper that he created. That year he also helped organise British North America's first Mechanics' institute. In 1831, he joined with his son, Andrew Harvie, to form a publishing firm called Andrew H. Armour and Company. Armour was dismissed as the king's printer in 1832. Harvie dissolved his partnership with his father in 1835 to form a new firm with Harvie's brother-in-law and bought Armour's share of the ''Gazette''.

Dry goods career

Armour continued to run a dry goods firm called Robert Armour and Company and in 1843 established a second firm with William Whiteford called Armour, Whiteford and Company. He was also a director for the Montreal Gas Light Company, the Montreal Fire Assurance Company, the

City Bank of Montreal The City Bank of Montreal (known in French as "La Banque de la Cité") was an early bank founded in Montreal in 1833, when it was part of Lower Canada. It was founded as a counterpart to the Bank of Montreal, whose politically conservative direc ...

and the Montreal Provident and Savings Bank. In 1843 Armour was also translating documents for the Canadian government from French to English. He probably retired sometime in the 1850s.

Personal life and death

Armour married Elizabeth Harvie in 1806. They had five children. In 1815, Armour became the treasurer of the St Gabriel Street Church, a

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

church, and became an elder of the church in 1819. When the church split in 1832, Armour went with Edward Black to create St Paul's Church. Armour died on April 16, 1857, in Montreal.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Armour, Robert Canadian bankers 1857 deaths 1781 births Bank of Montreal people People from Kilmarnock Scottish emigrants to pre-Confederation Quebec