Daniel Hunter McMillan (1846-1933)

Soldier, MLA (1888-1892), MLA (1892-1895), MLA (1896-1899), Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba (1900-1911), grain dealer.

Born at Whitby, Ontario on 14 January 1846, son of James and Eleanor McMillan, brother of William Wallace McMillan, he was educated at Whitby and Collingwood, Ontario. He came west with the Wolseley Expedition in 1870 as Captain of a Company. Seven years later, he married Mary Lindsay of Collingwood.

Entering the grain business, he founded the first steam-powered flour mill in the city. He remained active in military affairs, served as a major in the 1885 North-West Rebellion (winning a medal of honour), and in 1887 he became commanding officer of his regiment, the 95^th Battalion Winnipeg Rifles. He was the first president of the Winnipeg Grain Exchange. He served as a Director and later Vice-President of the Great-West Life Assurance Company.

He ran for the Manitoba Legislature unsuccessfully 1879, and was elected at a by-election in 1880, representing Centre Winnipeg until 1900. While a member of the Greenway government he served as Provincial Treasurer (1889 to 1900). He served as a President of the St. Andrew’s Society of Winnipeg from 1899 to 1900, and was President of the Northern Crown Bank in 1911. He was a founding member, in 1905, of the St. Charles Country Club. The University of Manitoba awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1911. He lived at 645 Wellington Crescent from 1911 to his death in April 1933.

In 1910 he was listed by the Winnipeg Telegram as one of Winnipeg’s 19 millionaires.

There are papers at the Archives of Manitoba.

He is commemorated by McMillan Avenue in Winnipeg.

Sources:

Who’s Who in Western Canada: A Biographical Dictionary of Notable Living Men and Women of Western Canada, Volume 1, 1911. C. W. Parker, editor. Canadian Press Association, Vancouver.

Crescentwood: A History by R. R. Rostecki, Crescentwood Home Owners Association, 1993.

Profile revised: 27 December 2009

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