
Hon. Sir Alexander Tilloch Galt
'Sir Alexander Tilloch Galt',
GCMG,
PC (
September 6,
1817–
September 19,
1893) was an
English-born
Canadian politician, and a father of
Canadian Confederation.
He was a member of the
Great Coalition government in the
Province of Canada that secured Confederation between
1864 and
1867. He served as the first Minister of Finance in the new confederation and was the main architect of the
Cayley-Galt Tariff, and became the first Canadian
High Commissioner in
London in
1880.
In 1848, he married Elliott, the daughter of Montreal merchant
John Torrance. After her death in 1850, he married her younger sister Amy Gordon. Galt was a member of several
Masonic lodges.
Alexander Galt is interred in the
Mount Royal Cemetery in
Montreal, Quebec. In
Lennoxville, Quebec, the Alexander Galt High School was named in his honor.
Galt's company, the
North Western Coal and Navigation Company, was instrumental in establishing the
coal mining industry of
Lethbridge,
Alberta in the late 1800s, and subsequently the community itself. A
public park and a
museum (formerly a hospital) in Lethbridge are named after him.
Was founding President of
The Guarantee Company of North America in 1872 providing fidelity bonds to gurantee the honesty of employees of Railroads and Government, which still exists today as the largest provider of surety bonds in all of Canada in Public Works and Government Services.
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