He was born in Richmond Hill, north of Toronto, but due to his father, a Methodist minister, being sent to the area,[1] spent part of his early life on the rural shores of Georgian Bay and Muskoka.
That same year Lawren Harris was staying nearby with Dr. David E. Stanton Wishart, also a professor of medicine at the University of Toronto.
He also used his funds to pay for a quarter of the construction costs of the Studio Building as a permanent workspace for artists in Toronto.
While not painting himself he was a frequent presence at the Studio Building and accompanied members on expeditions north, such as a trip in 1916 with Lawren Harris and his cousin Chester, to fish with Tom Thomson[4] and several important trips made painting the Algoma region with Harris.
He wished that his cottage would become a permanent setting for painters to stay, but difficulties arose and it passed to his estate from which it was purchased by H. R. Jackman and his wife, Mary.