Donald Smith, 1st Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal

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The Right Honourable The Lord Strathcona and Mount Royal GCMG GCVO PC DL FRS
Canadian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom
In office 1896–1914
Prime Minister	Charles Tupper Wilfrid Laurier Robert Borden
Preceded by	Charles Tupper
Succeeded by	George Perley
Member of Parliament for Montreal West
In office 22 February 1887 – 22 June 1896
Preceded by	Matthew Hamilton Gault
Succeeded by	District abolished
Member of Parliament for Selkirk
In office 2 March 1871 – 13 May 1880
Preceded by	District established
Succeeded by	Thomas Scott
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Personal details
Born	Donald Alexander Smith 6 August 1820 Forres, Scotland
Died	21 January 1914(1914-01-21) (aged 93) London, England
Resting place	Highgate Cemetery, London
Citizenship	British subject
Spouse	Isabella Sophia Hardisty ​ ​ (m. 1853; died 1913)​
Children	Margaret Howard, 2nd Baroness Strathcona and Mount Royal
Residence(s)	28 Grosvenor Square, London
Occupation	Diplomat, businessman
Known for	Driving the CPR's Last Spike
Awards	Albert Medal (1912)
Signature

Donald Alexander Smith, 1st Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal, GCMG, GCVO, PC, DL, FRS (6 August 1820 – 21 January 1914), known as Sir Donald A. Smith between May 1886 and August 1897, was a Scottish-born Canadian businessman who became one of the British Empire's foremost builders and philanthropists. He became commissioner, governor and principal shareholder of the Hudson's Bay Company. He was president of the Bank of Montreal and with his first cousin, George Stephen (later Lord Mount Stephen), co-founded the Canadian Pacific Railway. He was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba and afterwards represented Montreal in the House of Commons of Canada. He was Canadian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom from 1896 to 1914. He was chairman of Burmah Oil and the Anglo-Persian Oil Company. He was chancellor of McGill University (1889–1914)^[1] and the University of Aberdeen.

King Edward VII called him "Uncle Donald".^[2] His estate was valued at $5.5 million. During his lifetime, and including the bequests left after his death, he gave away just over $7.5 million-plus a further £1 million (not including private gifts and allowances) to a huge variety of charitable causes across Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States.^[3] He personally raised Strathcona's Horse, who saw their first action in the Second Boer War. He funded the building of Leanchoil Hospital. He and his first cousin, Lord Mount Stephen, purchased the land and then each gave $1 million to the City of Montreal to construct and maintain the Royal Victoria Hospital. He endowed the Lord Strathcona Medal and donated generously to McGill University, Aberdeen University, the Victoria University of Manchester, Yale University, the Prince of Wales Hospital Fund and the Imperial Institute. At McGill, he started the Donalda Program for the purpose of providing higher education for Canadian women, building the Royal Victoria College on Sherbrooke Street for that purpose in 1886. He also built the Strathcona Medical Building at McGill and endowed its chairs in pathology and hygiene.