George Frederick Benson

In manufacturing and commercial circles of Montreal the name of George Frederick Benson is well known. Important business concerns have profited by his cooperation, have felt the stimulus of his energy and enterprise and have been quickened by his close application and careful control. Many of Montreal’s best known and most successful business men are numbered among her native sons, to which class Mr. Benson belongs. His father, William T. Benson, a native of Kendal, Westmoreland, England, was a member of the federal parliament for the constituency of South Grenville, Ontario, in which county the village of Cardinal (formerly called Edwardsburg) is situated. There the late W. T. Benson resided for twenty-seven years, after establishing there in 1858 the industry, so well known for many years throughout the Dominion of Canada as The Edwardsburg Starch Company and now forming the Edwardsburg Works of The Canada Starch Company, Ltd. The late W. T. Benson married in England, before coming to Canada, Helen Wilson of Acton Grange, Cheshire, England, and their only son was George Frederick Benson, the subject of this review.

He was educated in England at Uppingham School and Oxford University, but returned to Canada, after the sudden death of his father in 1885, to take charge of his father’s varied interests. After first confining his work to the management of the firm of W. T. Benson & Company, importers of foreign wools and chemicals at Montreal, he was elected president of The Edwardsburg Starch Company in 1894, and since the formation of The Canada Starch Company in 1906 he has been its president and managing director. He is likewise a director of the West Kootenay Power & Light Company, and thus his interests have become extensive and important, connecting him with leading manufacturing, commercial and industrial interests, not only in the east but also in the west.

In October, 1890, Mr. Benson was united in marriage to Miss Etheldred Norton, a daughter of the late George Frothingham of the well known firm of Frothingham & Workman, and they reside at No. 15 Ontario Avenue, Montreal. Mr. Benson gives his political allegiance to the conservative party and in religious faith is an Anglican. He has been an active member of the Montreal Board of Trade, and was treasurer for the year 1913. He has a wide acquaintance among leading club men of the city, holding membership in a number of the most important clubs of Montreal, including the St. James, Mount Royal, Canadian, Canada, Forest and Stream, Montreal Hunt, Montreal Racquet, Royal Montreal Golf and Royal St. Lawrence Yacht Clubs. He is also a member of the Royal Canadian Yacht Club of Toronto and an active member of the Thousand Islands Yacht Club in the Thousand Islands district, where he has a most attractive summer residence.