Bethune, Robert Henry

  • DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: Philip Creighton, “BETHUNE, ROBERT HENRY,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 12, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/bethune_robert_henry_12E.html
  • DCB profile notes:
    • Banker and sportsman; b. 5 May 1836 in Cobourg, Upper Canada, second son of Alexander Neil Bethune and Jane Eliza Crooks; m. 1862 Jane Frances Ewart, and they had a son and five daughters; d. 27 March 1895 in Toronto.
    • Robert Henry Bethune grew up in Cobourg, where his father was the Anglican priest. He and his brothers were educated in private schools and then sent to Upper Canada College in Toronto. In 1853, at the age of 17, Robert started his career in banking as a junior clerk in Brockville for the Bank of Montreal. The next year he was at its Cobourg branch as a teller and in 1855–60 he was in the Toronto branch as assistant accountant. There he came to the notice of Edwin Henry King, the bank’s inspector of branches and later its general manager. He saw Bethune as a young man with promise, and rapidly increased his responsibilities. Bethune went for a year to the bank’s newly opened New York office as accountant.
    • There is no question that the Dominion Bank under the direction of Bethune was astonishingly successful. In the 24 years that he was its general manager, Canada experienced three severe economic downturns, one in each decade. During that period the bank always reported a profit, always added to its reserves, always paid a dividend which equalled or bettered those of its competitors, and generally kept out of trouble. The value of its shares just kept climbing. By July 1894 the original shareholders had experienced an eight per cent compound annual growth in the value of their shares as compared with four and a half per cent, the rate at the next most successful bank, the Commerce. All this success was accomplished within Ontario, for the Dominion had no office outside the province until after Bethune’s death, although other Canadian banks acted as its representative elsewhere. By staying in Ontario the Dominion was able to avoid the effects of the disastrous collapse of the Winnipeg real-estate market in the mid 1880s.
    • Later in 1867 Bethune represented the diocese of Toronto in place of the failing Strachan at the first Lambeth Conference, in England. He returned to Toronto just before Strachan’s funeral on 5 November. Bethune had succeeded his mentor on 1 Nov. 1867, and adopted as his signature “A. N. Toronto.” He resigned both the rectory of Cobourg and the archdeaconry of York. He continued as bishop of Toronto until his death in 1879.
    • Bethune was an example to all in his industry, his integrity, his loving manner, and his impartiality. He possessed conviction, but was an intensely humble man. His love of beauty and correctness in worship was interpreted by many in those unsettled times simply as a sign of “high church,” and his humility was taken by many for weakness. His message was largely lost on his generation.
  • Grandson of Proven United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=565
  • Find A Grave: Cannot locate.