The F.E. Meredith Memorial Prize is a scholarship given to students graduating in an English program with the best written English at Bishop's University.
His interest in various educational and cultural undertakings was well known, particularly in the progress and welfare of Bishops University, where he led the successful financial campaign of 1924. As an advocate to many of the country's largest corporations, along with his family connections and strength of character, Meredith wielded a very considerable influence in Quebec. In 1926, he succeeded his brother-in-law's first cousin, John Hamilton, becoming the 8th chancellor of Bishop's, a position he held until 1932. Principal Arthur McGreer later stated that all the substantial financial gifts from 1924 onwards had in some cases been entirely, and in most cases largely, due to Meredith. The F.E. Meredith Prize at Bishop’s was endowed after his death by his son, W.C.J. Meredith, awarded annually to the student with the best written English graduating from an English course. Fred Meredith also donated the Meredith Cup which is still competed for annually between the golfers of the college. In 1904, Université Laval conferred on him the degree of Doctor of Civil Law (D.C.L.) honoris causa. To commemorate the event, Meredith instituted a scholarship payable each year to the graduating student of the law faculty who obtained the highest marks. He and his two former business partners, Charles Sandwith Campbell and James Bryce Allan, also endowed the Prix Jette, awarded annually to the best student in civil law at their shared alma mater, Université Laval.
Mrs. Meredith was the widow of Francis Wolferstan Thomas, by whom she had three children. She served with Lady Meredith as a Governor of the Montreal Maternity Hospital.
When Mrs. Meredith separated from her husband in 1913, she moved to England, living in Knightsbridge, London. During World War I, she served with the Canadian Red Cross at the Moor Park Convalescent Home for Canadian Officers, in Devon. In 1942, Mrs. Meredith went to stay with her daughter Shearme and her husband, Lt.-Col. John Lionel Philips, at their home Abbey Cwmhir Hall. During her stay, she fell ill and, three years later, she died there on July 27, 1945. A funeral service was held for her at Penybont, where there is a bench in the churchyard to her memory. She was survived by her four children and two of her sisters, Mrs. Frank Wolff May of Montreal and Lady van Straubenzee of London.
Meredith had been a noted sportsman. Playing Rackets, he was a Dominion finalist on one occasion and frequently represented Canada in competitions against the United States. In 1897 he won the championship of the Montreal Rackets Club, and was the runner-up in 1898. As a young man he'd also played ice hockey, and he was elected the honorary president of the Montreal Victorias when they won the Stanley Cup in 1895, 1896 and 1897. He later sponsored an ice hockey team for the office boys in his firm, and amateur golf competitions. He raced with the old Montreal Jockey Club, took flying lessons in Winnipeg and fox hunted with relatives in England, Ireland, and with the Montreal Hunt. He played tennis into his seventies, notably in John Wilson McConnell's group, and at the Mount Royal Tennis Club. He was Chairman of the Montreal Shakespeare Club and a generous donator to Martha Allan's Montreal Repertory Theatre. At university he developed a keen interest in photography, and at one stage considered an apprenticeship with William Notman. He belonged to many sporting and social clubs in Montreal and served as President of three of them: the Mount Royal Club, the Montreal Racquet Club and the University Club. In England, he belonged to the St James's Club, Travellers Club, Marlborough and British Empire clubs.
Obituary
Meredith's funeral monument in Mount Royal Cemetery.
F.E. Meredith was well remembered for his dry sense of humour and was frequently described as "the most colourful and prominent figure" on the Bar of Montreal and "one of the most eminent personalities not only in the Quebec Bar but in the whole of Canada".[3]Arnold Heeney especially recalled the generosity of F.E. Meredith, "that grand old dandy... who would quite often have me home with him for lunch, and test me with the largest, strongest martinis I had ever known".[4]Horst Oertel wrote An Appreciation to his friend that was published in The Times of London in 1941,
The death of Frederick Edmund Meredith K.C., D.C.L., LL.D., has removed an outstanding Canadian who combined in a rare degree fine British traditions with Canadian outlook in a new world. May I just pay a personal tribute? Few men are able to impress others by the qualities of their individuality as Meredith did. Rather serious in his outlook on things and events, yet with a charming touch of Puck and Ariel in his nature, he united the imagination of his Irish ancestry with a sense of reality, responsibility and sympathetic feeling for others to a rare degree. To help those who were in difficulties was a joy and reward to him; his friendship was unbounded. Emotional to a high degree, he never expressed a vicious thought, and I knew him intimately for nearly 30 years. He had many friends on both sides of the Atlantic, and Privy Council cases brought him frequently to London. Whoever met him felt the better for it and wished more. I imagine that there are not many men who may warm both hands at the fire of life and combine the dignity and joy of living as Fred Meredith did.
Meredith died shortly before his eightieth birthday (‘birthdays are not the kind of thing one wants to commemorate’ he once said), after an illness of several weeks. He died at his home on Pine Avenue in the Golden Square Mile shortly after eleven o’clock of that morning, predominantly of old age. Meredith's funeral was one of the largest ever seen in Montreal, and out of respect the practice division of the courts were closed for the day.[5] The city's legal and business communities turned out in full force, and both were represented among his pall-bearers who included Sir Edward Beatty, Sir Montagu Allan, Sir Herbert Holt and Chief Justice R.A.E. Greenshields. He was buried in the Meredith plot at Mount Royal Cemetery, Montreal, next to his cousins, Sir Vincent Meredith and Charles Meredith and their respective wives.
