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S

ir Mortimer Barnet Davis was born in Montreal on February 6, 1866 to Samuel Davis and Minnie Falk Davis. The senior Davis couple had emigrated from England in 1861 and Mortimer was their third son, one of seven children. He attended Montreal High School and upon graduation joined his family's cigar business: S. Davis and Sons. By the time he was 21, he was already someone to contend with. He experimented with tobacco and is credited with having established its cultivation in Canada. He founded Ritchie cigarettes before the turn of the century and merged it with the Imperial Tobacco Company of England, thereby establishing the Imperial Tobacco Company of Canada. He was a director of many companies including the Union Bank, Henry Corby distillery, Empire tobacco and others.

For all of the foregoing, he is best remembered for his contributions to the community. Following the example of his parents, he gave to many charities including Notre Dame, Montreal General and Mount Sinai hospitals. He was not a religious man, and, while he remained a member of Temple Emanu- El, which his father had helped to establish, he also gave to the Talmud Torah, the Baron de Hirsch Institute, and the YMHA. In fact, he underwrote the entire $420,000 of a new YMHA building. The "Y" was opened at Mount Royal near Park shortly after Sir Mortimer's death.

He was knighted in recognition of his participation in the first war, not as a soldier, for he would have been 48 years old in 1914, but because he equipped a full division of the Canadian army.

On July 6, 1909, Sir Mortimer acquired lots 18a and 18b overlooking Lac des Sables in Ste. Agathe. Lord (Thomas George) Shaughnessy, president of the Canadian Pacific Railroad, was the vendor of record, but he had acquired it himself only shortly beforehand, and the farm was just down the road from Mr. Shaughnessy's own property.

Within two months of his acquisition, Mr. Davis became involved in helping a group of erstwhile farmers in Préfontaine. This group, headed by Max Ofner, may have been trying to set up a commune. Whatever their intentions, Davis ultimately acquired the property and, together with Mark Workman, Moses Vineberg, Jacob Jacobs and others built the Mount Sinai sanitarium in 1910-11.

From the memoirs of Sheila's great-grandfather Herschel Wolofsky, we learned that Wolofsky met Davis at the Ste. Agathe train station around this same time and Davis invited him to travel in his private rail car back to the city. Wolofsky, who published the Kanadar Adler, a Yiddish newspaper, tells how they discussed various charities in Montreal and Ste- Agathe. Davis wanted to discuss a particular publication. Here is an excerpt from Wolofsky's book, Journey of My Life:

At about this time, I was issuing a broadsheet called "The Hammer". Here we presented a cartoon showing two masons working on a monument purporting to represent Sir Mortimer's communal activities. Each of the stones represented a different institution that had received his support. But the monument was not complete. Two stones still lay on the ground, one marked "Talmud Torah" and the other "Federated Charity". Beneath the cartoon a mason was represented as saying to his companion, "Hand over those two stones and the monument is complete!" The cartoon was reprinted in both the Eagle and the Chronicle, and copies of all these publications were sent to Davis.

As fate governs these things, Davis was saying that he saw no purpose in funding Talmud Torah (Jewish education) because, after all, these were modern times. Out the window of the train, the Shawbridge Boys' Farm was gliding by, and their discussion turned to the number of Talmud Torah- educated boys that were there, despite their education. Wolofsky claimed that he believed that there were none, and Davis told him if he proved to be right, Davis would reconsider his position.

Wolofsky was right, and Davis made good by supporting the Talmud Torah schools to the tune of $5,000 a year for the balance of his life. Wolofsky also states in his memoirs that Davis's contributions frequently amounted to more than 10% of the budget of many of the institutions that he supported.

Davis passed away in Cannes, France on March 22, 1928 and his funeral, held in Montreal, was among the largest in the history of Montreal's Jewish community. In his will, he left 75% of his estate to be used for the construction of a Jewish public hospital that would bear his name. He felt that his estate was not adequate in 1928, but that it would grow to be in 50 years. The Jewish General Hospital, which was started shortly after Sir Mortimer's death, eventually became the beneficiary of this estate and today it is known as the Sir Mortimer B. Davis Jewish General Hospital.

Sir Mortimer's only child was killed in a traffic accident in 1940. His divorced wife, Lady Davis, who also spent a long time in France, financed hostels for refugees fleeing the Nazi advance. Upon her return to Canada, she gave the first Canadian Spitfires to the war effort and established and maintained three rest-houses for the air force. An estimated 500,000 servicemen used these houses at different times. She was named a Dame Commander of the British Empire after the war. Later, she established the Lady Davis Foundation, which helped relocate European scholars to Canada. She died in Montreal on December 24, 1963.

The Davis house in Ste. Agathe still bears the name he gave it: Chateau Belvoir, and today serves as a bed and breakfast. His Montreal residence is now Purvis Hall on the grounds of McGill University. Mount Sinai Hospital still exists and serves the community in Montreal, but the buildings in Ste. Agathe are looking for a new vocation.

*Inscription on Sir Mortimer's cemetery monument

Thanks to Imasco Ltd.; Richard Davine, Honorary President, Share Zedek Congregation; Alan Raymond, historian, Temple Emanu-El.

Joseph Graham has written a book that features a select number of stories of Laurentian places and how they got their names. To learn more, click here.

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This material may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the written permission of the author. © Joseph Graham