Merchant Prince: The Story of Alexander Duncan McRae

Ann Turner is the financial and budget manager of the University of
British Columbia Library.

Considering the impact he had on Canada’s development in the first
half of the 20th century surprisingly little has been recorded in print
about Alexander Duncan McRae. He left few personal papers, and because
he usually played the behind-the-scenes role of visionary, organizer, or
financier in his enterprises, he has received little mention in Canadian
history texts. In piecing together his story from archival records,
newspaper articles, and the memories of his surviving family members,
Betty O’Keefe and Ian Macdonald have brought him out of the shadows
for the recognition he deserves.

McRae was instrumental in promoting settlement of the Canadian Prairies
from 1900 to 1910. The wealth he accumulated from that enterprise
financed the development of large-scale lumbering, mining, and fishing
initiatives in British Columbia. He served as quartermaster general for
the Canadian Armed Forces in World War I, and donated his palatial
Vancouver home, Hycroft, to the Canadian government for a veterans’
hospital in World War II. After a short and unsuccessful attempt to
establish a new political party in British Columbia, he found his niche
in federal politics, serving as an elected member and then senator for
20 years.

This well-researched, well-written biography is a welcome addition to
the record of Western Canada’s economic development.