Honorific-Prefix: | The Honourable |
Samuel Gerrard | |
Office: | 2nd President of the Bank of Montreal |
Predecessor: | John Gray |
Successor: | Horatio Gates |
Term Start: | 1820 |
Term End: | 1826 |
Office2: | Member of the Special Council of Lower Canada |
Term Start2: | 1838 |
Term End2: | 1841 |
Birth Place: | Gibbstown House, County Meath |
Death Place: | Montreal, Canada East |
Samuel Gerrard (1767 - March 24, 1857) was a Canadian fur trader, businessman, militia officer, justice of the peace, politician, and seigneur. He was the second president of the Bank of Montreal. From 1838 to 1841, he was a member of the Special Council of Lower Canada. In 1841, he acquired the seigneuries of Lanaudière and Carufel.[1]
Gerrard was born in Ireland at Gibbstown House, County Meath. The Gerrards were a prosperous Anglo-Irish family who had held Gibbstown, an estate of some 1,270 acres, since the mid 17th century, and previous to that were seated at nearby Clongill Castle.[2] [3] [4] Samuel was probably a grandson of the Samuel Gerrard of Gibbstown who was a friend of Jonathan Swift and visited London and Bath in 1740.[5] Samuel was probably a younger brother of the John Gerrard (d.1838) who was High Sheriff of Meath in 1818. By 1785, at the age of eighteen, Samuel Gerrard was established at Montreal as a merchant concerned with the fur trade from Timiskaming. In 1791, he went into partnership with his future brother-in-law, William Grant, and Étienne-Charles Campion. Gerrard acted as the firm's accountant, receiving a quarter of the profits.
Gerrard Street in Toronto is named in his honour.