James McGill

James McGill
Born	(1744-10-06)October 6, 1744 Glasgow
Died	December 19, 1813(1813-12-19) (aged 69) Montreal
Resting place	In front of the Arts Building 45°30′18″N 73°34′38″W
Other names	James McGill III
Alma mater	University of Glasgow
Known for	Founder of McGill University
Spouse(s)	Charlotte Trottier Desrivières, née Guillimin
Children	childless ("I have none of my own" he wrote in a 1795 letter)
Parent(s)	Margaret Gibson, James McGill

James McGill (October 6, 1744 – December 19, 1813) was a Scottish-Canadian businessman and philanthropist. He was also a prominent member of the Château Clique.

Biography

Burnside Place, McGill's country home, now McGill campus

Statue of James McGill on the university's downtown campus.

Born on Stockwell Street in Glasgow, Scotland and educated at Glasgow University, he became one of the Montreal merchants involved in the fur trade south of the Great Lakes from 1770. As a fur trader, slave owner and land owner, he further diversified his activities into land speculation and by 1810 had abandoned the fur trade altogether. Rumoured to be the richest man in Montreal, he left a great deal of money to charity, including an estate and £10,000 to the Royal Institution for the Advancement of Learning to found McGill University.

He was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada for Montreal West in 1792 and appointed to the Executive Council in 1793. He was elected again in 1800 and in Montreal East in 1804.

He was the first honorary Lieutenant-Colonel of the regiment The Canadian Grenadier Guards, which name is marked upon the replicated cairn that stands before the Arts building of McGill University.

James McGill was buried, alongside his fur-trading associate, John Porteous, in the old Protestant "Dufferin Square Cemetery". When the cemetery was eradicated in 1875, his remains were reinterred in front of the Arts Building on the university campus.

Plaques are displayed on Stockwell Street, Glasgow commemorating his birthplace and his foundation of the university, and in the undercroft of Bute Hall at Glasgow University, recognizing the historic link between Glasgow and McGill universities. The birthplace is now home to a chain of a popular William Hill betting shop.

See also

• List of universities named after people
• Scots-Quebecer

External links

• Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
• McGill University - Who was James McGill?
• James McGill's Will