McGill Library
McLennan Library Building3459 rue McTavish
Montreal, Quebec
H3A 0C9
Identity area
Type of entity
Person
Authorized form of name
Forget, Louis-Joseph, 1853-1911
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
1853-1911
History
Descended from a Normandy family that arrived in New France in the mid-17th century, Louis-Joseph Forget became one of the dominant figures of business and finance in Canada during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In 1873 he started working as a clerk in a stockbroker’s firm in Montreal and the following year, aged 21, he raised the necessary funds to purchase a seat on the Montreal Stock Exchange. Three years later he founded the firm L. J. Forget et Compagnie. By 1892 Forget was one of the 15 wealthiest French Canadians in Montreal whose estimated worth was greater than $500,000. He was chairman of the Montreal Stock Exchange in 1895 and 1896. L. J. Forget et Compagnie became one of the most important brokerage firms in Montreal and was widely known in financial circles throughout the rest of Canada and abroad. Forget was president of the Montreal Street Railway Company and helped the company switch from horse cars to electric tramways. He served on numerous boards of directors and in 1904, was the first French Canadian to be appointed to the Board of Directors of the Canadian Pacific Railway.
Louis-Joseph Forget was appointed to the Senate of Canada representing the senatorial division of Sorel, Quebec in 1896. A Conservative, he served until his death and played a central role in rebuilding Conservative support, particularly in Quebec.
Forget was a generous philanthropist and gave generously to the Roman Catholic archdiocese of Montreal. One of his main interests was the Montreal branch of the Université Laval and he agreed to accept the presidency of the board of governors to look after the material interests of the university. Forget occupied various positions on the board until his death and bequeathed a chair to the university.
Louis-Joseph Forget died in Nice, France in 1911 at age 58. The day after he died, a Montreal newspaper described him as “one of the colossal figures about whom have surged the tides and currents of Canadian finance.” His home at 1195 Sherbrooke Street West in Montreal’s Golden Square Mile still survives today.