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THOMAS GEORGE SHAUGHNESSY - 1ST BARON
SHAUGHNESSY
PRESIDENT OF CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILROAD SIGNED LETTER TO LORD HALSBURY
A nice letter from the 1st Baron of Shaughnessy and third President of
the Canadian Pacific Railroad to Edward Giffard, Lord Halsbury, three
time Lord High Chancellor of England. Lord Halsbury and his wife were
about to take the Canadian Pacific Railroad across Canada and Baron
Shaughnessy writes: "Dear Mr. Giffard, I am sure that you and Lady
Evelyn will find your trip to the Pacific Coast over our lines
interesting and enjoyable. If occasion should require it this letter
will serve as an introduction to any of out officers or agents, Yours
very truly T.G. Shaughnessy, President." A nice autograph letter signed by
Baron Thomas George Shaughnessy on Canadian Pacific Stationary from the
Office of the President to one of the major political figures of the
Edwardian Age.
Historical Note
THOMAS GEORGE SHAUGHNESSY, 1st BARON SHAUGHNESSY
THIRD PRESIDENT CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILROAD
Thomas
George Shaughnessy, 1st Baron Shaughnessy (1853–1923) was an
American-born railway administrator who rose from modest beginnings as a
clerk and bookkeeper for the Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad to become
the president of the Canadian Pacific Railway, serving in that capacity
from 1899 – 1918. In recognition of his stewardship of the CPR and its
contributions to the war effort during the Great War, Shaughnessy was
elevated to the Peerage of the United Kingdom on 1 January 1916,
becoming Baron Shaughnessy.
Thomas G. Shaughnessy, the son of Irish Catholic immigrants, was
educated in public schools and at the Jesuits’ St Aloysius Academy in
Milwaukee. He also studied for several months at the Spencerian Business
College in that city before entering the service of the Milwaukee and St
Paul Railroad at age 16. He served first as a clerk in the purchasing
department and then as a bookkeeper in the supply division. In 1874 the
railroad extended its service to Chicago and was renamed the Chicago,
Milwaukee and St Paul, but popularly it was known simply as the
Milwaukee Road. In 1880 William Cornelius Van Horne* became the
general superintendent of the Milwaukee Road and he was soon favourably
impressed by Shaughnessy’s meticulous but, until then, unspectacular
work in the stores department. Van Horne promoted Shaughnessy to the
position of purchasing agent. Van Horne left the Milwaukee Road to
become general manager of the fledgling Canadian Pacific Railway on 2
Jan. 1882 and offered Shaughnessy the position of purchasing agent for
the entire CPR system. One of Shaughnessy’s greatest
accomplishments was to reduce costs as much as possible. He introduced a
tight system of controls and accounting procedures in the ordering and
allocation of supplies and he scrutinized all expenditures.
After 1888 the fortunes of the company improved and Van Horne became
president that year. He and the directors named Shaughnessy assistant
president in September 1889. In 1891 Shaughnessy became a director and
was elected vice-president. Van Horne gradually assigned almost all
administrative responsibilities to Shaughnessy, who succeeded him as
president in 1899. The company went on to achieve remarkable success,
thanks in part to good management, but mainly to the rapid settlement of
the Canadian prairies. Shaughnessy was a brilliant administrator who ran
one of Canada’s largest and most efficient businesses in an effective,
but cautious way. During his administration the CPR, more than any other
company, contributed to the building of Canada as a nation. One of the
most important services the CPR provided was the transportation of
prairie wheat to export markets. The main line made this possible, but
it was the massive construction of branch lines and the significant
reductions in freight rates during the Shaughnessy years that allowed
prairie homesteaders far from the main line to establish successful
farms. The railway brought in the coal with which the farmers heated
their homes, but it also carried manufactured products and supplies of
all kinds, dramatically expanding the economy of western Canada and
connecting it with that of central Canada.
Shaughnessy was also
intimately involved in the development of the Canadian Pacific’s
steamship service. During his presidency newer and larger ships, tugs,
barges, and ferries were acquired for service on the Great Lakes, the
inland waterways of British Columbia, and the Pacific coast. A
profitable steamship service from Vancouver to the Orient had been
established in 1891 with three ships forming the Empress Line. This
service was significantly improved during the Shaughnessy era by the
construction of new Empress ships, which were then the fastest and best
equipped on the Pacific. In 1902 Shaughnessy decided the company should
establish its own Atlantic service. He took part in the acquisition by
the CPR of two Atlantic shipping companies – the Beaver Line and the
Allan Line in 1903 and 1909 respectively – and in the addition of new
ships, including some of the most modern design. The Atlantic service
earned only modest profits, but it made the CPR one of the world’s major
shipowners.
Thomas G. Shaughnessy had been made a knight bachelor on 17 Sept. 1901,
created a K.C.V.O. in 1907, and elevated to the peerage of the United
Kingdom as Baron Shaughnessy on 1 Jan. 1916. He suffered a massive heart
attack on 9 Dec. 1923 and died the following day. At the pinnacle of his
career his identity and that of the CPR seemed inseparable. His
achievement did not lie in the conception of grand designs but in the
management and execution of an administrative system which carried the
CPR to its greatest business success as the country’s most important and
profitable multifaceted business empire.
Document Specifications:
This is a handwritten autographed letter
by George Thomas Shaughnessy dated September 26th, 1912 and
addressed to Edward Giffard - Lord Halsbury, the
three time Lord High
Chancellor of England. The letter is
four pages on one folded sheet on unwatermarked
linen wove paper. Letter is on one page and a pencil docketing notation
"Sir Thomas Shaughnessy, Ld Shaughnessy, President C P Ry" on the back
page. Each
page measures approximately 5" wide by 8" tall (130mm x 205mm). Condition is Very
Fine with one horizontal fold.
Offered by Berryhill & Sturgeon, Ltd.