THE 155th ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING & DINNER OF
THE IRISH PROTESTANT BENEVOLENT SOCIETY

MAY 24, 2011

UNIVERSITY CLUB OF MONTREAL

The Irish Protestant Benevolent Society's 2011 AGM and dinner, held at the University Club on Mansfield Street on May 24, was well attended and convivial.  President Tony Wait efficiently conducted the annual meeting and he and other officers reported on activities of the year past.  Dr. J.S.S. Armour said grace and then a fine dinner ensued.  The highlight of the evening was a rousing talk by Philip E. Johnston on "William Henry Drummond - One Hundred Years On".

Philip Johnston discussed Irish-born William Henry Drummond's life and career in Quebec, particularly his poetry and the huge appeal it had during his lifetime (1854-1907) and for decades afterwards.  Delighting the audience with recitations from some of Drummond's best-known poems, including "The Wreck of the 'Julie Plante'", Johnston lamented the poet's falling out of favour and rebutted the charge that his work belittled francophone Quebecers.  Quite the contrary, Johnston argued, Drummond enjoyed knowing and sincerely respected many of "les habitants", the term he used for rural French Canadians.  Many of his contemporary readers would have known francophone city dwellers, but his special love was for and his poetry addressed the country folk: farmers, fishers, lumberjacks, trappers and their families to whom he ministered as physician for so much of his life. 

Joining over 40 IPBS members for the festive evening were William Henry Drummond descendant Brian Drummond and his wife Althea, as well as Patrick Holdich, the British Consul General in Montreal, and Dr. Michael Kenneally, the Honorary Consul General of Ireland for Montreal.  Other special guests were representatives of Montreal sister societies: Lt. Col. Bruce Bolton, President of the St. Andrew's Society; Judith Elson, President of the Royal Commonwealth Society - Montreal Branch; Patrick Shea, President of the St. Patrick's Society; Brian Llewellyn-ap-Dafydd, President of the St. David's Society; and Dr. Gisela Steinle, President of the German Benevolent Society.

Report by Lynn Verge