Starnes, Henry

  • DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: R. E. Rudin, “STARNES, HENRY (Henry Nathan),” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 12, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/starnes_henry_12E.html
  • DCB profile notes:
    • Merchant, banker, and politician; b. 13 Oct. 1816 in Kingston, Upper Canada, son of Benjamin Starnes and Elizabeth Mainville; m. 5 Aug. 1840 Eleanore Stuart in Montreal, and they had seven children; d. 3 March 1896 in Montreal.
    • Henry Starnes, of United Empire Loyalist and French Canadian descent, was educated at the Montreal Academical Institution, founded by the Reverend Henry Esson, and the Petit Séminaire de Montréal. While in school he met many of the influential figures, including George-Étienne Cartier, with whom he would be associated in later years.
    • After confederation he accepted instead a seat on Quebec’s Legislative Council. Into the 1870s, however, he continued to play an “indispensable” role behind the scenes managing party finances for Cartier’s Bleus, and in this capacity he became entangled in the dealings between Cartier and Sir Hugh Allan during the 1872 federal election.
    • Cartier received considerable financial aid from Allan in his losing bid for re-election in Montreal East, funds which were funnelled through the Metropolitan Bank by Starnes, who was at that time its president. In return for Allan’s assistance and contributions to the national campaign fund, Cartier signed a letter promising the contract for the transcontinental railway to a syndicate formed by Allan. The Liberal-Conservatives were returned to power and when, under pressure from Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald, Allan dropped his American associates from the syndicate, one of them, George William McMullen, threatened to disclose the financial relationship between Allan and Cartier. Starves intervened and obtained the damning correspondence from McMullen in return for $37,500. It became known to several Liberal members of parliament, however, that Starnes was in possession of these documents and news of the dealings was revealed in the House of Commons by Lucius Seth Huntington in April 1873. The Liberals succeeded in having the correspondence impounded and under court order Starnes was compelled to release the damaging letters.
    • The subsequent Pacific Scandal, which brought down the Macdonald government, coincided with the death of Starnes’s close political associate Cartier and marked the end of Starnes’s direct involvement in partisan politics. As a legislative councillor he supported both Liberal and Conservative provincial governments. 
    • A parallel may be drawn between the business and the political careers of Henry Starnes. In both spheres his early life was one of success and upward mobility. The scandals of the 1870s did not destroy him, but they did, perhaps prematurely, bring an end to hopes of greater power and influence. Said to have been a man who loved position and power, Starnes reportedly cherished the dream of one day taking up residence in Spencer Wood as lieutenant governor of Quebec. The Pacific Scandal and the collapse of the Metropolitan Bank relegated him to a less active role in politics and in business for the remaining years of his life
  • Grandson of Loyalist in Loyalist Directory –https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=8012
  • Find a GRAVE: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/17719982/henry-starnes