Richard William Heneker

Richard William Heneker (May 2, 1823 – August 15, 1912) was a Canadian businessman of Irish descent. Following his immigration to Canada in 1855, he settled in Sherbrooke, Quebec. After a long career in business, he left Canada in 1902 to retire in England.

For about fifty years, Heneker was a businessman and an influential leader in the Eastern Townships at the end of 19th century. Throughout his life in Canada, he pursued two missions: namely to enable Anglophones in the Sherbrooke region to emancipate themselves and build a regional economy controlled by residents of the Eastern Townships.

He acted as the first chairman of Bishop's College School and a Chancellor of Bishop's University.

Childhood and studies Richard William Heneker followed a program of studies at University College School in London. Subsequently, he studied architecture by private lessons.

Biography

Career in England

At the age of 19, Heneker was hired by the firm of Charles Barry, architect of the Westminster Parliament buildings (London). He worked there until the end of the 1940s, then launched his own account still in architecture. On numerous occasions, Heneker exhibited drawings at the Royal Academy of Arts. For example, in 1846, Heneker won a second prize in a competition for this academy for the design of a railway station. In the early 1850s he was an associate member of the Royal Institute of British Architects; he operated a professional architectural services office with a colleague, Frederick Lawford. In addition, from 1892 to 1902, Heneker was president of the Sherbrooke Gas and Water Company. The British American Land Company had rented properties located on the edge of the city's largest waterfalls to the Sherbrooke Gas and Water Company.

In 1888 Heneker appeared before the Royal Commission on Capital-Labor Relations in Canada.

Community involvement

In addition to his role as a businessman, Heneker got involved in municipal politics and at the community level with the Protestant and English-speaking population of the Eastern Townships. In 1859 he joined the board of directors of Bishop's College Lennoxville. He became vice-chancellor and chairman of the board in 1875; from 1878 to 1900, Heneker was chancellor.

In addition, Heneker came to the aid of several settlement societies in the Eastern Townships, whose mission was to recruit English-speaking settlers.