John Forsyth (loyalist)

John Forsyth (December 8, 1762 - December 27, 1837) was a partner in the influential commercial house of Forsyth, Richardson & Co. He was a politician, co-founder and vice-president of the Bank of Montreal, and Colonel of the Royal Montreal Cavalry. He founded the Montreal Hunt in 1826 and was a member of the Beaver Club. He is the ancestor of the Forsyth-Grants of Ecclesgreig Castle.

Born at Huntly, Aberdeenshire, he was the fifth son of William Forsyth (b.1721) 4th Laird of Tailzerton, and his wife Jean, daughter of George Phynn, Lord of the Corse of Monelly. He was a first cousin of the politician Edward Ellice through the influential Phynn family.

Forsyth came to New York just before the American Revolution, but as a loyalist he removed to Quebec. He joined his brother, Thomas, at Montreal. They worked in the Montreal offices of their uncle's merchant's firm Phynn, Ellice & Co., of London. When Ellice died in 1790, the Forsyth brothers and their first cousin John Richardson became partners of what was from then known as Forsyth, Richardson & Co., of Montreal. Much of their business was centred on the fur trade and they became partners in the North West Company for a period. John Forsyth focused on the smooth day-to-day running of the company, leaving his forceful cousin to drive it forward.

Forsyth played a supporting role in Richardson’s abortive effort to establish the Canada Banking Company in 1792. He was among the founders, with Richardson, of the Bank of Montreal in 1817, and their firm, as well as Forsyth and Richardson individually, subscribed the maximum 20 shares each. Forsyth served as a director of the bank from 1817 to 1820 and as vice-president in 1825–26.

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