Robert Wilson Reford (1867–1951) was a Canadian photographer, businessman and art collector.

Birth and education

Reford was born in the

Golden Square Mile The Golden Square Mile (, ), also known as the Square Mile, is the nostalgic name given to an urban neighbourhood developed principally between 1850 and 1930 at the foot of Mount Royal, in the west-central section of downtown Montreal in Quebec, Ca ...

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, the eldest son of Robert Wilson Reford and Katherine Sheriff Drummond, daughter of Andrew Drummond of Tredinnock, near

Stirling Stirling (; ; ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Central Belt, central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town#Scotland, market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the roya ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. He was educated at

Upper Canada College Upper Canada College (UCC) is an independent day and boarding school for boys in Toronto, Ontario, operating under the International Baccalaureate program. The college is widely described as Canada's most prestigious preparatory school, and ha ...

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

and Lincoln College, Sorel,

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

Career

His father was the founder of the Robert Reford Company, a shipping agency established in

in 1866. In 1888, he began his apprenticeship in business, working as a

Purser A purser is the person on a ship principally responsible for the handling of money on board. On modern merchant ships, the purser is the officer responsible for all administration (including the ship's cargo and passenger manifests) and supply. ...

on board a Thomson Line vessel in the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

. The following year he was sent to

Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Gre ...

to act as the assistant manager of the Mount Royal Rice Mills, a company his father had founded in 1882 and which had rice mills in

and Victoria. There he was placed in charge of the Thermopylae, the former clipper ship which Robert Reford had acquired in 1890 to carry rice from the Far East to Victoria. He then worked in shipping offices in

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

and

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. On his return to Montreal, he joined the staff of the Robert Reford Company. Made a partner in 1906, Robert Reford succeeded to the presidency of the Robert Reford Company on the death of his father in 1913. The Robert Reford Company were the agents for the

Cunard-White Star Line Cunard-White Star Line Ltd, was a British shipping line which existed between 1934 and 1949. History The company was created to control the joint shipping assets of the Cunard Line and the White Star Line after both companies experienced finan ...

from 1911. Tickets for the

Cunard Line The Cunard Line ( ) is a British shipping and an international cruise line based at Carnival House at Southampton, England, operated by Carnival UK and owned by Carnival Corporation & plc. Since 2011, Cunard and its four ships have been r ...

rs departing from

were sold from the Reford agency buildings in

Quebec City Quebec City is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...

and

Saint John, New Brunswick Saint John () is a port#seaport, seaport city located on the Bay of Fundy in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. It is Canada's oldest Municipal corporation, incorporated city, established by royal charter on May 18, 1785, during the reign ...

. Robert Reford was also active in the business and political life of the city. He was President of the Montreal Board of Trade in 1912. During the war he was the vice-president of the Montreal Branch of the Canadian Patriotic Fund. He served as President of the Canadian Club from 1915-16. In 1919, he was made a director of the

Cunard Steamship Company The Cunard Line ( ) is a British shipping and an international cruise line based at Carnival House at Southampton, England, operated by Carnival Corporation & plc#Carnival UK, Carnival UK and owned by Carnival Corporation & plc. Since 2011, ...

Private life

Robert Reford enjoyed

photography Photography is the visual arts, art, application, and practice of creating images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is empl ...

and

painting Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

. Acquiring one of the first

Kodak The Eastman Kodak Company, referred to simply as Kodak (), is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in film photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorporated i ...

cameras in 1888, he became one of Canada's most prolific amateur photographers. During his sojourn in

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

, he photographed various first nation communities along the coast of British Columbia including the Kitlope at Wakasu in Gardner Canal, the Chinese community in

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

and the Mount Royal Rice Mills. His photograph albums were donated by the Reford family to the

National Archives of Canada Library and Archives Canada (LAC; ) is the federal institution tasked with acquiring, preserving, and providing accessibility to the documentary heritage of Canada. The national archive and library is the 16th largest library in the world. Th ...

and are considered to be among the treasures of the Archive's collection.

Family

On June 12th, 1894, Robert Reford married (Mary) Elsie Stephen Meighen, daughter of Robert Meighen and Elsie Stephen, niece of

George Stephen, 1st Baron Mount Stephen George Stephen, 1st Baron Mount Stephen, (5 June 1829 – 29 November 1921), known as Sir George Stephen, Bt, between 1886 and 1891, was a Canadian businessman. Originally from Scotland, he made his fame in Montreal and was the first Canadian t ...

. They had two sons, Bruce (1895-1972) and Eric (1900-1983). In 1902, they built their Montreal home at 300 Drummond Street in the

, designed by architect Robert Findlay.

References

Sources

Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
*''Canadian Men & Women of the Time 1912'', Ed.

Henry James Morgan Henry James Morgan (November 14, 1842 – December 27, 1913) was a Canadian civil servant, lawyer, author and editor, probably best known for publishing collections of biographical sketches of notable Canadians. The son of Robert Morgan, a Scott ...

, Toronto, William Briggs, Richmond St. W., 1912. * ''Jardins de Métis'', Les guides des jardins du Québec, , texte d'

Alexander Reford Alexander Reford is a historian by training, with master's degrees in history from the University of Toronto and Oxford University. Born in Ottawa, Ontario, in 1962, he was raised and educated in the Outaouais region of Québec. He held the positi ...

, traduction d'Albert Beaudry. *''Private Realms of Light. Amateur photography in Canada 1839-1940'', edited Lilly Koltun, Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 1984, p. 324. *''The Canadian Who's Who 1949-1951'', Ed. Arthur L. Tunnell, Trans Canada Press, 1951 *''Treasures of the National Archives of Canada'', University of Toronto Press, 1992, p. 34 and p. 330-331. *Jardins de Métis (Reford Gardens)
jardinsdemetis.com

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reford, Robert Canadian photographers 1867 births 1951 deaths Anglophone Quebec people Burials at Mount Royal Cemetery