Robert Armour

Robert Armour (June 13, 1781 – April 16, 1857) was a Canadian businessman and publisher. Born in Kilmarnock, Scotland, he immigrated to Montreal in 1798. He ran a merchandising business unsuccessfully, misspending public funds. In 1816 he joined with other Montreal businessmen to create the Bank of Montreal. In 1827 he was appointed to the office of the king's publisher and bought the Montreal Gazette. After selling his shares of the newspaper to his son's firm, he ran various dry goods firms.

Early life and early career

Armour was born on June 13, 1781, in Kilmarnock, Scotland. His father was a shoemaker named Robert Armour, and his mother was Jean Shaw.

Career He arrived in Montreal in 1798. He worked as an auctioneer and was a partner in a merchants firm called Henderson, Armour and Company. He was appointed as a warden of Trinity House in 1815, a Montreal organisation that regulated the shipping industry along the St. Lawrence River. By 1815 he joined Montreal's 1st Militia Battalion and remained until 1821. Armour and a business partner were running a general store on St. Paul Street, but the store was financially unsuccessful and went into receivership. The bank negotiated to rent the property with the assignees to the property. It is unknown how Armour's financial struggles ended. In 1820 he was in Montreal, selling insurance and dry goods, and owned shares in a steamboat called Car of Commerce, which travelled between Montreal and Quebec City.

Publishing career In 1827, Armour was appointed to the office of the king's printer for Montreal. Later that year he used his children's inheritance from his deceased wife to purchase and invest in the Montreal Gazette. In 1831, he joined with his son, Andrew Harvie, to form a publishing firm called Andrew H. Armour and Company. Armour was dismissed as the king's printer in 1832. He probably retired sometime in the 1850s.

Personal life and death Armour married Elizabeth Harvie in 1806. They had five children.

In 1815, Armour became the treasurer of the St Gabriel Street Church, a Presbyterian church, and became an elder of the church in 1819. When the church split in 1832, Armour went with Edward Black to create St Paul's Church.

Armour died on April 16, 1857, in Montreal.