THE CONSUMMATE CANADIAN
A Biography of Samuel Edward Weir Q.C.
Mary Willan Mason
Natural Heritage / Natural History Inc.
THE CONSUMMATE CANADIAN
The Consummate Canadian
A Biography of Samuel Edward Weir Q.C.
Mary Willan Mason
Natural Heritage Books
The Consummate Canadian
Mary Willan Mason
Published by Natural Heritage / Natural History Inc.
P.O. Box 95, Station O,
Toronto, Ontario M4A 2M8
Copyright©1999 The Weir Foundation
All Rights Reserved
No portion of this book with the exception of brief extracts for the purpose of literary review, may be reproduced in any form without the permission of the publisher.
Design by Derek Chung Tiam Fook
Colour Separations by Colour Innovations, Toronto, Ontario Printed and bound in Canada by Hignell Printing Limited, Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data Mason, Mary Willan,
The consummate Canadian : a biography of Samuel Edward Weir Q.C.
Includes index.
ISBN 1-896219-40-3 (bound) ISBN 1-896219-38-1 (pbk.)
1. Weir, Samuel E. (Samuel Edward), 1898-1981. 2. Weir, Samuel E. (Samuel Edward), 1898-1981 — Art collections. 3. Art, Canadian. 4. Art, Modern — 19th century — Canada. 5. Art — Collectors and collecting — Ontario — Niagara-on-the-Lake — Biography. 6. Lawyers — Ontario — Niagara-on-the-Lake — Biography. I. Title.
N5230.C22W45 1998 709’.2 C98-931048-5
Natural Heritage / Natural History Inc. acknowledges the support received for its publishing program from the Canada Council Block Grant Program. We also acknowledge with gratitude the assistance of the Association for the Export of Canadian Books, Ottawa.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
5 The Young Politician And The Emerging Collector
6 Sam The Master In His Own Firm
9 The War And Sam’s Deepening Concern For His Father
11 Achievement, Prominence and Success
12 Art Invester, Avid Horticulturalist and Businessman
13 The Library And The Growing Collection
15 A Turning Point In The Weir Collection
16 London, Wall Street And Possibly Paris
17 Advice, Personal Grief And Canadian Art
19 A Fraud Case, A Foundation And A Floundered Relationship
21 From The Centennial Year To The Shaping Of River Brink
23 River Brink And Domestic Tranquility At Last
27 The Angel Arrives And The Marriage Ends
Archibald Weir
James and Susannah Sutton Weir
Robert and Martha Sutton Weir
Richard and Margaret Moir Weir
The Bawtenheimer (Badenheimer) Family
Johann Peter Badenheimer
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
FIRST AND MOST OF ALL MY THANKS FOR