David Morrice

The life record of David Morrice might be summed up in the term successful achievement. It has, however, been more than the success that is calculated in the terms of dollars and cents, for his outlook of life has ever been broad, his conceptions of its opportunities accurate and his recognition of its duties and obligations correct. He has as fully and carefully met the last mentioned as he has his chances in a business way. While he has passed the eighty-fourth milestone on life’s journey, in spirit and interest he seems yet in his prime. To him might be applied the words of Victor Hugo: “The snows of age are upon his head, but the spring of youth is in his heart.” He was born in St. Martin, Perthshire, Scotland, August 11, 1829, and after acquiring his early education there, started in business life as an employe in dry-goods stores, remaining for some time in that connection in Dublin, Liverpool, Manchester and London. The growing western country attracted him with its almost limitless opportunities, and in 1863 he established himself in Montreal where he founded the business that has since become one of the most important commercial enterprises of the city. Under the name of The D. Morrice Company the business is now one of extensive proportions. Manufacturers’ agents and general merchants, they have one of the largest and best appointed establishments of the city, and Mr. Morrice is also at the head of important productive industries and is said to be one of the best authorities in cotton matters in the Dominion. He is president of Penman’s Limited; of the Canadian Cottons, Ltd.; and of the Montreal Investment & Freehold Company. He is likewise a director of the Bank of Montreal; of the Dominion Textile Company; and of the Mount Royal Cemetery Company. While he has now in large measure retired from active management of these interests, his opinions still carry weight in business councils, and his judgment and discrimination are those of a man of not more than three score years and ten. While conducting important and extensive commercial and manufacturing interests, he has found time to become a factor in the management and control of many projects for the benefit of his fellowmen in the alleviation of the hardships of life for the unfortunate. He is now vice president of the Montreal Tubercular Association; president of the Montreal General Hospital; president of the Montreal Sailors’ Institute; president of the Mackay Institute for the Deaf and Dumb; and governor of the Montreal Boys’ Home. He has long been an interested member of the Montreal Art Association of which he is one of the councillors and he maintains an equal interest in Christian education as chairman of the board of managers of the Montreal Presbyterian College, in which position he has remained for forty-two years. He has ever been a firm believer in the early religious training of the young and has labored untiringly to advance the interests of moral direction for the youth of the land. In 1905 he was chosen vice president of the Quebec Sunday School Union and in 1902 was president of the Presbyterian Sunday School Association. In 1882 he erected the David Morrice Hall of the Montreal Presbyterian College at a cost of ninety thousand dollars. His gift to the Montreal General Hospital in 1906 made that institution richer by twenty-five thousand dollars and in 1910 he gave ten thousand dollars to the Montreal Art Association.

On the 14th of June, 1860, Mr. Morrice married Anne S. Anderson of Toronto, and of their children, William J. and David J., are connected with The D. Morrice Company. The others are Robert B., who is connected with Penman’s Limited; Arthur A., a resident of Toronto; James Wilson, a distinguished artist; and a daughter, who is now the wife of Allen G. Law, of the firm of Law, Young & Company of Montreal. The son, James Wilson Morrice, born in Montreal in 1864, attended the city schools and the Toronto University and afterward developed his art talent by study in Paris. He has not only won high reputation in that city but also in London and is considered one of the greatest painters of Brittany coast scenes. He has been a frequent exhibitor at the Paris Salon and one of his pictures has been purchased by the French government and another by the Canadian government for the National Art Gallery at Ottawa. He largely paints landscapes, yet gives some attention to figures and in all of his work there is an even balance maintained between technique, creative faculty and poetic feeling.

Mr. David Morrice is now eighty-four years of age, but still maintains deep and active interest in the church and in the benevolent and civic projects with which he is identified. Moreover, he still holds membership in the St. James Club, the Montreal Club, the Mount Royal Club, the Montreal Hunt Club and the Forest and Stream Club. Someone has said, “there is an old age which need not suggest idleness or lack of occupation; on the contrary there is an old age which grows stronger and better, mentally and morally as the years advance and gives out of the rich stores of its wisdom and experience for the benefit of others.” Such is the record of David Morrice.