Baron_Strathcona_and_Mount_Royal
Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal
Barony in the Peerage of the United Kingdom
Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal, of Mount Royal in the Province of Quebec and Dominion of Canada, and of Glencoe in the County of Argyll, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.[1] It was created in 1900 for the Scottish-born Canadian financier and politician Donald Smith, 1st Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal,[2] with remainder in default of legitimate male issue to his only daughter, Margaret Charlotte. Smith had already been created Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal, of Glencoe in the County of Argyll, and of Mount Royal in the Province of Quebec and Dominion of Canada, in 1897, with remainder to the legitimate male issue of his body.[3] This title was also in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.
Upon his death in 1914, the barony of 1897 became extinct, while he was succeeded according to the special remainder in the barony of 1900 by his daughter, who became the second Baroness. She was the wife of Robert Jared Bliss Howard, a surgeon. Their eldest son, the third Baron, represented North Cumberland in the British House of Commons as a Unionist from 1922 to 1926. He also served in the National Government as Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard from 1931 to 1934 and as Under-Secretary of State for War from 1934 to 1939. The latter's son, the fourth Baron, succeeded in 1959 and served under Margaret Thatcher as a Minister of State at the Ministry of Defence from 1979 to 1981. His son, the fifth Baron, succeeded in 2018.
Through his estate, the first Baron bequeathed nearly $2 million to educational institutions, including $500,000 to Yale University.[4] Accordingly, Sheffield-Sterling-Strathcona Hall, a classroom and administration building on Yale's campus, is partially named in his honour.
The family seat is Colonsay House on the Isle of Colonsay, in the Scottish Inner Hebrides.
