Matthew Hamilton Gault
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The Honourable Matthew Hamilton Gault |
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| Member of the Canadian Parliament for Montreal West |
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In office 1878–1887 |
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| Preceded by | Thomas Workman |
| Succeeded by | Lord Strathcona |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
July 18, 1822 Strabane, County Tyrone |
| Died | June 1, 1887 (aged 64) Montreal, Quebec |
| Political party | Conservative |
The Hon. Matthew Hamilton Gault M.P., J.P. (July 18, 1822 – June 1, 1887) was an Irish-Canadian financier and politician. In 1865, he founded Sun Life Financial at Montreal. He was elected to the Canadian House of Commons in the 1878 election for the riding of Montreal West. A Conservative, he was re-elected in 1882 and served until his death in 1887. During the winter he lived with his family at Braehead in Montreal's Golden Square Mile. He was the uncle of Brigadier-General Andrew Hamilton Gault.
Born 1822 at Strabane, County Tyrone, he was the eldest son of Leslie Gault (1787-1843) and his wife Mary Hamilton (1798-1874), daughter of Matthew Hamilton (1750-1814), of Fintra House, near Killybegs, Co. Donegal. Gault was privately educated by Rev. Charles Allen, considered to be one of the best Classical scholars in Ireland.
At the age of fifteen, a fall from a horse severely injured his spine and gave a shock to his nervous system from which he never completely recovered. After having been confined to bed for a year, he returned to school but found himself so far behind his classmates that he became discouraged and dropped out. Until the family left for Montreal and it became clear he would have to earn his own living, he passed his time in the countryside, fishing, shooting and hunting rabbits with his ferrets.
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