Collection search - Sir Sandford Fleming
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Sir Sandford Fleming
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Record information Sir Sandford Fleming
Date:1892.Reference:Box number: OP-0083Type of material:ArtFound in:Archives / Collections and FondsItem ID number:2837695Date(s):1892.Bilingual equivalent:Place of creation:No place, unknown, or undeterminedExtent:1 painting : oil on canvas
Support x cm
Platemark x cmLanguage of material:no languageScope and content:208-46-13, Item consists of a portrait of Sir Sandford Fleming, 1892 by John Wycliffe Lowes Forester.Additional name(s):Biography/Administrative history:Fleming, Sandford, Sir, 1827-1915 : Sir Sandford Fleming (1827-1915),surveyor, draftsman, engineer, office holder, and college chancellor, was born in Kirkaldy, Scotland. After receiving an education in Kennoway and Kirkaldy from the Scottish engineer and surveyor John Sangand. Fleming emigrated from Scotland in 1845 and completed his engineering education in Canada. To complete his certificate in engineering, Fleming prepared maps of Peterborough, Hamilton, Cobourg, and Toronto in 1849.
After numerous noteworthy activitiesin the early 1850s, including the founding in Toronto of the Canadian Institute, an early professional society of architects, surveyors, and engineer, he became - in 1857 - engineer-in-chief of the Ontario Northern Railway.
In 1863 the Canadian government appointed him chief surveyor of a proposed route for the intercolonial railway linking the Canadas to the Maritime colonies. He subsequently became chief engineer of the Intercolonial. In 1871 the Canadian Pacific Railway Company chose Fleming to direct the construction of the transcontinental railway. Though he was summarily dismissed from the directing the railway construction in 1880, he received a substantial payout package, which he re-invested in the Hudson's Bay Company. Also, by 1884 he had become one of the directors of the company. In November 1885, he can be found at the centre of things, captured in one of the most famous of Canadian photographs, the driving of the last spike of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Fleming is the towering central figure with the top hat and broad beard.
Although Sir Sandford Fleming did not make a career in politics, much of his work had an impact in this area. His sector was technology, and it was for technology that he had national and international goals: building a railway to unite the provinces of British North America, the development of the engineering profession, the setting up of a telegraph that would circle the globe via the British territories, and universal time measurement.
As a distinguished scientist, he was the prime advocate of the adoption of an international system of standard time and wrote many scientific monographs. He also worked privately for the cause of imperial unity, and designed the first Canadian postage stamp.
During his lifetime, he was awarded honorary doctorates by the University of St Andrews in Scotland (1884), Columbia (1887), the University of Toronto (1907), and Queen's (1908). He also held a membership in the Royal Society of Canada.Additional information:Availability of other formats note:Colour transparency available.Signatures and inscriptions note:Inscription: in brushpoint and red oil, recto l.l.: JWL FORSTER (complete transcription)Subject heading:Source:PrivateOther accession no.:1951-566 PIC
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Ordering and viewing options Conditions of access:Graphic (art)[Consultation Open]
Physical access restricted due to medium. No restrictions on use for reproduction or publicationBox [1951-566][Consultation Open]OP-0083 Item no. assigned by LAC 1[Consultation Open]Copy negative [1951-566][Consultation Open]C-001652 Item no. assigned by LAC 1[Consultation Open]Terms of use:Credit: Library and Archives Canada, Acc. No. 1951-566-1
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