Pryor, William Jr.

  • DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: David A. Sutherland, “PRYOR, WILLIAM (1801-84),” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 11, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/pryor_william_1801_84_11E.html
  • DCB profile notes:
    • Merchant and banker; b. 16 March 1801 at Halifax, N.S., eldest son of William Pryor and Mary Barbara Foss; m. in 1840 Johanna von Schwartz in Hamburg (German Federal Republic), and they had one son and four daughters; d. 8 June 1884 at Halifax.
    • The grandson of a New York loyalist of Anglican persuasion, William Pryor was born into a prominent Halifax merchant family. After receiving a rudimentary formal education, he entered the family business, serving his father first as a clerk and later as supercargo on vessels dispatched to foreign ports. In 1828 he became junior partner in the firm, which grew to include his two younger brothers as well as his brother-in-law. William Pryor and Sons pioneered in trade with Brazil and at its mid-Victorian height “carried on the largest mercantile business in Halifax.
    • When his father died in 1859, William as his eldest son succeeded to control of the family enterprises, which included a directorship in the Halifax Banking Company. The younger Pryor’s business career peaked in 1867 when he followed his father’s example by becoming president of this, Halifax’s oldest banking house.
    • William Pryor was one of the first victims of the decay which afflicted the economy of the Maritime provinces late in the 19th century. Rendered complacent by years of prosperity in the commission import-export business, Pryor’s firm found itself overextended in 1873 when an international business recession reduced consumer demand and froze commercial credit. By December Pryor was mortgaging his domestic real estate in an effort to secure additional working capital. The gambit failed, and in March 1875 William Pryor and Sons declared bankruptcy, with liabilities of $125,000 against assets of, at most, $70,000. Creditors were offered 40 cents on the dollar. A humiliated William Pryor resigned as president of the Halifax Banking Company and abandoned his prestigious Hollis Street residence. When he died intestate in 1884 he left an estate valued at $8,253.83, the bulk of which came from life insurance. His failure as a businessman, however, was not an isolated phenomenon, for he belonged to that host of Halifax merchants who could not cope with the passing of Nova Scotia’s “Golden Age.”
  • Grandson of United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=6806
  • Find a GRAVE: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/232611820/william-pryor