Skip to content
Irvine Scotland
  • Home
  • The People of Irvine
  • The Irvine that was!
  • The Irvine that is!
  • The Irvine that could have been!
  • Irvine is open for business!
  • Old Parish Churchyard Project

John Munn

By adminAugust 19, 2016November 30, 2018The Irvinites
Canadian politician

John Munn (12 March 1788 – 20 March 1859) was a Scottish-born shipbuilder and political figure in Lower Canada.

He was born in Irvine, Scotland in 1788, the son of a sailor, also named John Munn, and came to Quebec City in 1801, where he began his career as a shipbuilder. In 1814, he went to Montreal, where he manufactured ships for the government. He set up his own shipbuilding business at Quebec in 1815. Many of the ships that he built were transported to Britain for sale. Munn, well known as a master craftsman, also trained a number of shipbuilders. He also helped found Queen's College at Kingston.

In 1837, he was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada for the Lower Town of Quebec in a by-election held after George Vanfelson resigned his seat. He served on the city council for Quebec from 1840–1842. In 1845 and 1846, he built steamships for the People's Line of Steamers; when this company was unable to pay, Munn was forced to take back ownership of the ships. Because he had borrowed heavily from the Bank of British North America to finance their construction, this left Munn in a bad financial position and he was later forced to sell his shipyard and other properties.

He died at Quebec in 1859, where a small park bear his name in the Saint-Roch neighbourhood. It contains a sculpture that represents a ship and is called Le roi du fleuve (King of the River), John Munn's nick-name.[1] Munn was buried in Mount Hermon Cemetery in Sillery.

See also

  • Jeanie Johnston

References

  1. ^ "The story behind Parc John-Munn". Quebec Chronicle-Telegraph. 2015.

External links

  • "Biography". Dictionnaire des parlementaires du Québec de 1792 à nos jours (in French). National Assembly of Quebec.
  • "John Munn". Dictionary of Canadian Biography (online ed.). University of Toronto Press. 1979–2016.
source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Munn_(shipbuilder)
Facebook Comments

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

Related

Post navigation

John Muir
Ian Parker

Search

Site Updates

  • Old Parish Churchyard Project
  • Irvine Logo
  • New Videos in Articles
  • Edgar Allan Poes links to Irvine
  • Churchyard Indiegogo!

RSS Irvine Times Headlines

  • Merck: Irvine based company welcomes students from UWS to their site May 21, 2022
  • South Ayrshire city bid unsuccessful as new cities are revealed May 21, 2022
  • Still Game and River City stars set for Saltcoats Town Hall events May 21, 2022
  • See the hygiene rating for the Wetherspoons in Irvine May 21, 2022
  • Ayrshire: Woman sentenced for neglecting pet cat May 20, 2022
  • Kilwinning: Driver 'fails drug test' in police traffic stop May 20, 2022
  • Irvine to house one of only two surviving ships from Dunkirk May 20, 2022
  • Kilwinning Abbey tower turns purple for fibromyalgia May 19, 2022
  • Bowls: Irvine clubs compete for league cup in competition’s quarter finals May 19, 2022
  • Irvine: Girl aged 16 punched and injured in Volunteer Rooms May 19, 2022

Events

Site built by
Scruffy Dug Design Solutions
Scruffy Dug Design Solutions


In partnership with
Clyde Imagineering
Clyde Imagineering
© 2022 Irvine Scotland. Proudly powered by Sydney