Richard Bladworth Angus (1831-1922)

He was born at Bathgate in Scotland, 19-miles directly west of Edinburgh. After his education at Bathgate Academy, he began his career in England with the Manchester & Liverpool Bank. In the same year that he married his wife (1857) he emigrated to Montreal and joined the Bank of Montreal (then the third largest bank in North America). He worked at the bank's offices in Chicago and New York before being appointed General Manager of the whole bank from 1869 to 1879. Entering the railroad business, he briefly lived in Minnesota working with James J. Hill before returning to Montreal where he formed a 'formidable' partnership with Lord Mount Stephen as they co-founded the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1885 - "the world's greatest transportation system". He was Vice-President of the C.P.R. but twice side-stepped its presidency and twice turned down a knighthood. In 1910, he did however accept the presidency of the Bank of Montreal (by then America's third largest bank) before retiring in 1913.