George William Allan (1822 - 1901)

Ancestors Descendants

Preceded by Joshua George Beard

11th Mayor of Toronto 1855 - 1856

Succeeded by John Beverly Robinson

Biography

Allan was the only surviving son of William Allan and Leah Tyrer Gamble (d. 1848), daughter of Dr. John Gamble. His father was the first postmaster of the city of Toronto, and a member of the Legislative Council of Upper Canada^[1].

He spent a portion of 1837, the year William Lyon Mackenzie headed a rebellion in Upper Canada, as a private in the "Bank Rifle Corps." He then finished his studies at Upper Canada College and decided to pursue law, passing his law examinations in 1839. He was articled to the office of Gamble & Boulton in Toronto. He was called to the bar of Upper Canada in 1846. Before entering into practice, he travelled abroad, through Europe, parts of Africa, Syria and the Middle East, Turkey and Greece.

Lawyer, financier and politician George William Allan, served as City Alderman in 1849, Mayor of Toronto in 1855, and in 1867 was named to the Senate.

Allan was deeply involved in the political life of the city of Toronto, serving as mayor in 1855. He presided over a number of institutions including the Royal Canadian Institute, the Toronto Conservatory of Music, the Historical Society, the Ontario Society of Artists, and the Horticultural Society of Toronto. From 1877 to 1901 Allan served as Chancellor of Trinity College and from 1967 to 1901 he was a Senator (Speaker 1888-1891), sitting as a Conservative. He was a great collector of art and historical objects and in 1848 bought the entire collection of 100 paintings that Paul Kane had painted on his travels throughout the west. In 1858 Allan donated a portion of land in Toronto to the Toronto Horticultural Society which became the Allan Gardens

He had seven children with his second wife, Adelaide Schreiber: Maude, George William, Mary Adelaide, Charles S., Arthur Campbell, Frederick Gamble Bingham, and Audrey Elizabeth Schreiber[1])

Allan Gardens, in Toronto, are named in honour of George William Allan^[2].

Sources

1. ↑ In collaboration, “ALLAN, WILLIAM,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 8, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed February 25, 2017, http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/allan_william_8E.html.
2. ↑ Toronto Post-Mayoral Honours

• Wikipedia:George_William_Allan
• History of Allan Gardens and Moss Park in Toronto [2]

• William Allan Wikipedia[3]

• Year: 1881; Census Place: St Thomas Ward, Toronto City, Ontario; Roll: C_13246; Page: 142; Family No: 742. Source Information: Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 1881 Census of Canada [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2009

Memories: 1