George Grant Mackay

George Grant MacKay was born in Inverness (Scotland) on 26th September 1827 to George MacKay, merchant and his wife Lilias (maiden surname Grant). He was involved in land management and was a staunch supporter of a number of railway projects in the Highlands of Scotland. As the owner of an estate near Oban, Argyll he gave evidence to the Commons (House of Commons) Committee for a railway scheme which was subsequently unsuccessful. The reason for his being called to give evidence was that as the owner of the Oban estate he was able to testify how greatly property values had been enhanced by the completion of the Callander and Oban Railway. He bought the Glengloy estate near Spean Bridge, Inverness shire in the early 1880s and was a proprietor well thought of by the workers on the estate. This may have been because he was less of an autocratic landowner and tended to work with his staff rather than simply issuing orders. His first wife, Annie Denny, died from tuberculosis in 1859, in Inverness aged 23 years. In 1861 George Grant MacKay remarried to Jessie Simson who is stated to be his cousin on the entry in the Statutory Register. Jesie was born in the West Indies where her father, John Simson was a merchant and there were children from this marriage. In 1887 he sold the Glengloy estate and left for Canada. At the time of his death in 1893 he appears to have little in the way of assets in Scotland - an insurance policy worth only £1 after payment of a bond to the British Linen Company. He also claimed to be a civil engineer, but it is not known at this stage if he underwent any formal training in resepect of this.

Participation in the following structures & large-scale projects:

• Capilano Suspension Bridge