John Redpath
| John Redpath | |
|---|---|
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| Born | 1796 Earlston, Scotland, Great Britain |
| Died | March 5, 1869 (aged 72–73) Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
| Resting place | Mount Royal Cemetery |
| Residence | Golden Square Mile |
| Known for | Founder of Redpath Sugar. Builder of the Redpath Museum and the Redpath Library |
| Spouse(s) | Janet McPhee, Jane Drummond |
| Children | Peter Redpath (1821-1894), John James Redpath (1834-1884), Janet Redpath (1825-1828), George Drummond Redpath (1835-1877), Francis Robert Redpath (1846-1928), Augusta Elenaor Redpath (1850-1910), Harriet Ina Redpath (1855-1858), Mary Redpath (1823-1893), Helen Redpath (1827-1883) |
| Relatives | Sir George Drummond |
John Redpath (1796 – March 5, 1869) was a Scots-Quebecer businessman and philanthropist who helped pioneer the industrial movement that made Montreal, Quebec the largest and most prosperous city in Canada.
In 1796, John Redpath was born at Earlston, Berwickshire. According to surviving records, he was the son of Peter Redpath, a farm worker, and his second wife Elizabeth Pringle, from neighbouring Gordon, Berwickshire. Redpath was born during the period of the Lowland Clearances that created economic hardship and dislocation for many Scottish families. As such, after gaining valuable experience as a stonemason with George Drummond in Edinburgh, the twenty-year-old Redpath emigrated to Canada.
In 1816, with limited funds for ship passage, the nearly penniless Redpath disembarked at Quebec City before walking barefoot to Montreal. Once there, he used the trade he had learnt back in Scotland to gain him employment in the construction industry, working as a stonemason. In November of that year, Redpath witnessed the first installation of oil streetlamps in the city on Rue Saint-Paul.
A man of integrity with a prodigious work ethic and a keen business sense, within a few years Redpath was running his own sizeable construction business. He was involved in major projects such as the construction of the Lachine Canal and locks that proved key to future commercial development of the city of Montreal. Beginning in 1689, attempts were made by the French Colonial government and several others to build a canal that would allow ships to bypass the treacherous Lachine Rapids. After more than 130 years of failure, with funding from the recently formed Bank of Montreal, the consortium, of which Redpath was a major part, was successful in its construction and the new canal officially opened in 1825.
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