Royal Harp Montgomery

(1882.05.20 – 1947.10.01 )
SPS, DLS, DTS, OLS, SLS
Commission #028
(1911.03.15)

Royal was born to Andrew and Pira Montgomery on May 20, 1882 in Brantford, Ontario.

“In the Ontario city of Brantford on May 20th, 1882, this subject was born in the public and high schools there received the grounding that fitted him for higher education and much advancement in very many phases of survey work that stretched clear across Canada.”

“At the age of 18 he entered Toronto University in an engineering course and graduated therefrom in 1903.”

“Like many other celebrities, the subject of this sketch hails from Brantford. His youthful years were spent in pleasure, discreetly alloyed with study, at the Brantford Collegiate Institute. Monty always evinced a liking for mathematics, and this probably decided him to continue his education at S.P.S. Here he selected mining as a profession, which offered scope for the application of a technical training, and gave promise of a suitable financial return. With his class he has been very popular, and is always ready to participate in any legitimate lark. With athletics he has been closely identified,
in his second year having played on the forward line of the Varsity junior hockey team. His work at S.P.S. is most creditable, and we feel sure he possesses both the business astuteness and executive ability necessary for the mining engineer.”

“Further prosecution in his past graduate studies resulted in the degree of B.A. Sc. (Toronto) in civil engineering in 1905.”

Royal received his commission as an OLS (1905), DLS (1909), SLS (1911) and a DTS (1920). “He was one of the very few to hold the commission Dominion Topographical Surveyor.” Other biographies state that Royal received his ALS commission in 1919. This is not true and verified by the Alberta Land Surveyors Association.

From University of Toronto publications we see that Royal worked with Hydrographic Surveys Branch/Dept. of Marine & Fisheries and he is named in a report with respect to same.

“His work as an O.L.S. was not so extensive as was the case under his other degrees. After graduation from Toronto University he did considerable work for the Dominion Government’s Topographical Surveys Branch of the Department of Interior, and about 1910 he located in private practice in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan from whence he performed many township surveys in addition to his considerable private practice. As a side line he was a wheat farmer on quite a large
scale.”

In Prince Albert from about 1911 to 1914 he was a partner in the firm ‘Montgomery & Morrier’, land surveyors and engineers. “The firm dissolved partnership during the war and Mr. Morrier continued the work of the firm for some time thereafter.”

“… he became, in 1918, Chief of Party on control levelling and continued on this work until 1922, with headquarters at Calgary. In that year he was transferred to the Geodetic Survey of Canada, and took up his permanent residence in Ottawa. During the winter that followed he directed 450 miles of precise levelling on the English and Winnipeg Rivers, the first undertaking of the kind ever attempted in Canada. During 1923 Mr. Montgomery was in charge of a special investigation in Labrador in connection with the Labrador-Newfoundland Boundary Arbitration. In 1925 he was appointed Chief of the Levelling Division in the Geodetic Service, Surveys and Engineering Branch, Department of Mines and Resources. “

“…and in that capacity was responsible for all field operations of that division and its reports of altitudes in Canada at large. His death occurred while occupying this position---two years before his superannuation. As a mathematician his ability was outstanding and thus for some years he was on the Board of Examiners of the S.L. Surveyors and also of the D.L. Surveyors. Of a kindly and distinctly humorous disposition he had many friends, was high in Masonic Circles, a lover of flowers and a keen bridge player.”

“At the end of a three months’ inspection trip of geodetic surveys in the Canadian West, extending up to the Alaskan border, Royal Harp Montgomery, a distinguished engineering graduate of the University of Toronto, was instantly killed in an automobile-train collision near Whitewood, Sask., on October 7, 1947.”

Royal’s name is on numerous publications with respect to altitudes in Canada; wrote various articles for the Canadian Surveyor and DLS meetings. He was more than an avid golfer as can be seen in newspaper articles about his many wins on the course (member of McKellar Golf Course). He was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon and was a Knight Templar.

He was married (December 20, 1906) to Gertrude and they had three children.

Prepared by M. L. J. Waschuk, SLS, P. Surv., 2018

Sources: Library and Archives Canada; University of Toronto publicaitons; Geodetic Information Services – NRCan; Ottawa Journal; ALSA – Brian Munday; SLSA; Calgary & Prince Albert City Directories; DLS Meeting Proceedings; ISC; Ancestry.com
Thanks to Carl Shiels for technical help.