Wholesale merchant.
Born at Montreal, Quebec on 6 March 1856, son of Alexander Tilloch Galt and Amy Gordon Torrance, he was educated at the Montreal high school, Barron’s school (Lennoxville), Rice Lake and Gotha, Germany. He commenced a career as a private secretary to his father, then a member of Halifax fisheries commission, in 1876. He was in the service of the Bank of Montreal from 1877 to 1882. He came to Winnipeg in 1882 and established the wholesale brokerage firm of G. F. and J Galt, located at 103 Princess Street, in partnership with George Frederick Galt. He was a director of the Alberta Railway and Irrigation Company, Union Bank of Canada (President, 1912-1922), and Canadian Fire Insurance Company. He was a member of the advisory board of the Royal Trust Company.
In 1885, he married Isabella Atkinson (1859-1887) at Chicago, Illinois. They had a daughter, Isabelle Galt (1887-1964, wife of Clarence Brett Piper). After his wife’s early death, he married Mabel Patton Henderson (1866-1944) in 1890 and they had three children: John “Jack” Galt (1891-1915), Maryon Galt (1893-1938, wife of Alfred Cecil Critchley), and Evelyn Galt (1894-1926, wife of William Martin). He was a member of the Manitoba Club, St. Charles Country Club, Winnipeg Lawn Tennis Club, Lakewood Country Club, Pine Ridge Golf Club, Mount Royal Club (Montreal), Conservative party, and Anglican church. He served as President of the Winnipeg Squash Racquet Club (1909-1910) and Canadian Club of Winnipeg (1916-1917). He and his family lived at 221 Roslyn Road. Its garage was designed by architect John Hamilton Gordon Russell and built in 1909 by the construction firm of Carter-Halls-Aldinger.
He died at Victoria, British Columbia on 9 April 1933.
See also:
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Anne Building / Blue Ribbon Building (87 King Street, Winnipeg)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Anne Building / Blue Ribbon Building (88 Arthur Street, Winnipeg)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Galt Building (103 Princess Street, Winnipeg)
1901 Canada census, Automated Genealogy.
Who’s Who in Western Canada: A Biographical Dictionary of Notable Living Men and Women of Western Canada, Volume 1, edited by C. W. Parker, Vancouver: Canadian Press Association, 1911.
A History of Manitoba: Its Resources and People by Prof. George Bryce, Toronto: The Canadian History Company, 1906.
The Leading Financial, Business & Professional Men of Winnipeg, published by Edwin McCormick, Photographs by T. J. Leatherdale, Compiled and printed by Stone Limited, c1913. [copy available at the Archives of Manitoba]
Death registrations, British Columbia Vital Statistics.
“John Galt expires in Victoria, BC, aged 76,” Winnipeg Free Press, 10 April 1933.
“John Galt, 77, importer and banker, dies in Victoria” Winnipeg Tribune, 10 April 1933, page 3.
Crescentwood: A History by R. R. Rostecki, Crescentwood Home Owners Association, 1993.
Obituaries and burial transcriptions, Manitoba Genealogical Society.
We thank George Tacik and Jordan Makichuk for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 18 July 2024
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