Andrew Hamilton Allan (1882-1959)

President of the Hall Engineering Company, Montreal

He was born at Montreal and was educated abroad before returning to take a position with Molson's Bank. In 1899, he joined the family shipping business and in 1912 he succeeded his father's first cousin, Bryce J. Allan, as General Manager of the Allan Line at Boston. In 1914, he joined the Canadian Army and as an officer with the Canadian Grenadier Guards he went to France the following year. 

After the war, he spent two years in London with Canadian Pacific before being asked to open an office in New York for the Donaldson Line which had recently purchased the River Plate Line previously operated by the Allan Line. He returned to England again with the Donaldson Line before returning to Canada in 1929 as Assistant General Manager of Canadian National Steamships. He was General Manager in 1931 before handing in his resignation in 1935. At the time of his death in 1959 he was President of Hall Engineering at Montreal. He was married three times. In 1909, he married Marguerite Trelawney Buller. They divorced in 1928 and remained in London. In 1931, he married Louisa Chaussegros de Léry MacDonald and after she died in 1949 he married Eileen Mercedes Hudson, ex-wife of Arthur Walsh of Montreal. He had two stepsons by his third wife, but having no sons of his own his passing marked the end of the Allan name in Canada.
Contributed by Mark Meredith on 27/05/2023 and last updated on 25/08/2023.