Volume 2 - ElectricCanadian.com

THE CHARTER 11province or secured by the Consolidated Municipal LoanFund, 7 and that the note circulation of the bank shouldnever exceed the total of paid-up capital, specie and provincialgovernment securities on hand. The total liabilities ofthe new institution were expressly limited to three times thepaid-up capital, plus deposits made in specie and in governmentsecurities. Advances against commercial paper or othersecurities bearing the name of any director, or of any firm inwhich a director might be a partner, were not to exceed onetwentiethofthe bank's discounts and advances at the timesuch accommodation might be extended.Despite the liberal terms of this charter and the prominenceof the provisional directors, the promoters made noheadway with the new venture. The title, "Bank of Canada,"which would to-day be regarded as of great value, was notat that time an asset, because of its similarity to the nameof the Bank of Upper Canada, which was already experiencingfrom 1845 to 1847 and again in 1858. His residence was The Grange, later occupiedby Goldwin Smith, Esq., and now the property of The Art Gallery of Toronto.Frederick William Cumberland (1821-81) was bora in London, England, andeducated at Dublin and King's College, London. After serving his apprenticeship as acivil engineer he entered the employ of the London and Birmingham Railway. Lateron he was for some years in the employ of the British Admiralty. Having married asister of Mrs. T. G. Ridout, whose husband was cashier of the Bank of Upper Canada,he decided to emigrate to Canada, and came to Toronto in 1847. In 1848 he wasappointed county engineer of the County of York. He served as Commissioner forCanada at the Great Exhibition of 1851, and subsequently, in the capacity of chiefengineer, superintended the construction of the Ontario, Simcoe and Huron Railway,which ran from Toronto to Collingwood. He resigned from the service of the RailwayCompany in 1854 and devoted himself exclusively to architectural work. Amongthe buildings he designed in Toronto are St. James Cathedral, the Normal Schooland the Main Building of the University of Toronto. In 1859 he became managingdirector of the Northern Railway of Canada, and was most successful in building upthe business of that road. In 1861, at the tune of the Trent affair, he organized the10th Royals, now the Royal Grenadiers, and became the first colonel of that Torontoregiment. During the Fenian Raid he served on the staff. He was a member of theSenate of the University of Toronto and later of Trinity College. For a time he satinthe provincial legislature and in 1871 he was elected to the House of Commons ofCanada. In the same year he was elected a director of The Canadian Bank ofCommerce. See page 75.7See Vol. I, p. 227.