Item 5 - Western front letters, 1914-1919

McGill graduate Harold Featherstonhaugh became an architect renowned for such Montreal landmarks as the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul and the Birks building which now houses the McGill Faculty of Religious Studies. He was a lieutenant in the Artillery Field Regiment before World War I; he then served in the 39th Battery during the war and was awarded the Military Cross in 1917. Earlier, he had worked with Edward and William Sutherland Maxwell, then in 1923 after the war, he became a partner in an architectural firm with J.C. McDougall; in 1934 he began working on his own until 1955.

Lieutenant Colonel Royal L.H. Ewing was a prominent member of the Montreal business community. He and his brother A. Stuart Ewing established the Montreal real estate and insurance firm of Ewing & Ewing before the war in 1906, continuing the work of their late father. He was a member of many social and sport clubs and organizations, including the Art Association of Montreal. A highly decorated World War I veteran, commander of the 42nd Battalion of the Royal Highlanders (Black Watch), the lieutenant colonel was awarded the Military Cross for “conspicuous gallantry” in 1916 and the Distinguished Service Order and its Bar in 1917-1918; he also received the French Legion d’Honneur Croix de Chevalier. During World War II, he was involved with the administration of the Montreal division of the Corps Commissionaires that guarded the Port of Montreal against sabotage.

As grandson of the founder of the Henry Birks and Son Ltd., Canada’s largest company of gold and silversmiths, Henry Gifford Birks was destined to play a role in the family business and in the Montreal business community. He entered the business in 1911, became general manager in 1933, then president in 1944. Besides sitting on the boards of many companies, he was president of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and the Montreal Board of Trade. A graduate of McGill, he also served as a governor of the university. He was a member of Montreal City Council from 1940 to 1944.

Montreal and Ottawa investment banker F. Stanton Mathewson was born in Winnipeg and graduated from Trinity College School in Port Hope, Ontario. He became chairman of the Montreal Stock Exchange in 1930. He also served in the military during the two world wars. In 1914, he headed overseas with the 13th Battalion of Canada (the Black Watch) where, as a colonel, he was second in command of his regiment; he returned to Canada in 1916, wounded, with a D.S.O. for exceptional gallantry. In 1940, he again enlisted and was in command of troops in training in England until he was invalided home in 1942.

James G. Ross, a member of Montreal’s Scottish elite, was a prominent figure in the city’s financial circles. He was the senior member of the accounting firm P.S. Ross and Sons after his father’s death and was also president of Ross Realty and a member of the Montreal Board of Trade; he also served as president of the Montreal Association of Chartered Accountants. Aside from financial matters, he went on an exploratory expedition in Yellowstone Park in 1888. Throughout most of his life he was an active member of the militia beginning with the Ontario Field Battery, then the Victoria Rifles in Montreal, from which he retired as a captain in 1891. He joined the 5th Royal Scots in 1898, rising from lieutenant to major. During World War I he served as a major-general, CMG, VD.