Marguerite (Mackenzie) Allan (1873-1957)

Lady Marguerite Ethel (Mackenzie) Allan

Associated Houses

Hector Mackenzie House

Montreal

Ravenscrag

Montreal

Montrose

Cacouna

Huntlywood

Beaconsfield

She was born in Montreal but had strong roots in Massachusetts. She was a great-granddaughter of: Cyrus Alger, Founder of the South Boston Iron Company; Holmes Hinkley, Founder of the Hinkley Steam Locomotive Company, Boston; and Horatio Gates, the Massachusetts-born President of the Bank of Montreal. She was, "lively and intelligent, Marguerite inherited her father's passion for music and art; she also shared his taste for adventure and his mischievous sense of humour". She was, "conscious of a proper and clearly defined pride, yet effortlessly charming and vigorous in enjoying life... (she had) a gift for doing the right thing, always in the right way". In 1893, she married Sir Montagu Allan and they had four children but tragically outlived all of them: the two youngest girls (pictured with her above) were killed on the Lusitania; their son was killed in World War I; and, their eldest daughter died in early adulthood, unmarried.

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Contributed by Mark Meredith on 08/11/2018 and last updated on 11/11/2021.
Picture of Lady Allan with her two youngest daughters, 1906, courtesy of the McCord Museum, Montreal; Lusitania: Triumph, Tragedy, and the End of the Edwardian Age, by Greg King and Penny Wilson