Born in England, Andrew Hamilton Gault, grew up in Montréal and attended Bishop's University in Lennoxville and McGill University. He left McGill in 1900 to join the Second Canadian Mounted Rifles and fight in the Boer War. After his return to Montréal, he became involved in his family's extensive business and manufacturing activities. A member of the Montreal Board of Trade, 1911-1913, Gault also was the Consul General for Sweden in Canada, 1909-1911. When the First World War began, Gault decided to raise and equip a regiment for service overseas. The regiment was named "The Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry" and Gault, as Colonel, was its commander during the war. After the war he remained in England where he became a Member of Parliament from 1924-1935, and sought to promote closer trade relations within the Empire. Although he spent much of his time in England, Gault still retained close links to Canada and bequeathed his Mont St. Hilaire estate to McGill University in 1958.