Dr Thomas Bassett Macaulay - The Macaulay Land Use Research ...

Dr Thomas Bassett Macaulay
(1860–1942)

Dr
Thomas
Bassett
Macaulay
(1860–1942)
T.B. Macaulay,
one of Canada’s
Scottish sons, is
remembered for
many things – not
least of which is the
foundation of the
Macaulay Institute
in 1930.
Aside from his
induction into the
Insurance Hall of Fame
(in recognition of his
landmark presidency of
the Sun Life Assurance
Company of Canada),
or that almost all
Holstein cattle
carry blood lines from
his original herd,
he was also a great
humanitarian, donating
considerable sums of
money to many worthy
causes both in Canada
and his ancestral
Scotland.

Robertson Macaulay (1853 – 1915)
Scottish Roots of the
Macaulay Family
The Macaulay family originally hailed from Uig, on the Isle of Lewis. However
T.B. Macaulay’s fisherman grandfather Captain Kenneth Macaulay had moved to
Aberdeenshire for work, which meant Robertson Macaulay (father to T.B.) was
actually born in Fraserburgh.
As a young man he moved to Stornoway to
live with his aunt. It was there that Robertson
began his business apprenticeship in the
office of Donald Munro, a respected solicitor,
that stood him in good stead for the world of
business and finance that lay ahead.
He completed his business training in
Aberdeen, and in 1854, on his 21st birthday and,
fired with ambition, he left Scotland’s shores for
Canada.
Robertson Macaulay joined Sun Life as
Secretary in 1874, and by 1889 he had become
president. His character and strength is said to
have left a lasting impression on the company.
50 Shore Street,
Fraserburgh,
birthplace of
Robertson Macaulay
T.B. Macaulay and
Margaret Palin
at Calanais,
West Lewis,
1929
The seventeen year old Thomas Bassett
Macaulay followed in his father’s footsteps
and in 1877 he joined the Sun Life Assurance
Company of Canada. Over the next 47 years
he had numerous roles including Actuary,
Secretary, Managing Director, President and
finally Chairman.
Working Life
After three years of intense private study, T.B.
Macaulay was appointed the Company’s Actuary.
In 1881 he was made an Honorary Associate of the
Institute of Actuaries of Great Britain, without
examination. When Canadian students were finally
able to take the institution’s examinations he passed
them all - in just three years. This accomplishment
was achieved whilst executing his onerous duties in
the relatively young company.
Under his leadership and direction, Sun Life began issuing
unconditional policies in the 1880s, the first company in the
world to remove policy restrictions on travel, occupation,
residence and suicide. Whilst initially drawing much criticism
from larger and more established companies, the issuing of such
policies rapidly became a worldwide practice.
During the company’s formative years, Macaulay realised the
limitations of the small Canadian market and set out on an
international expansion plan for Sun Life. Starting in the West
Indies in the 1880s and continuing through Asia, Central and
South America in the 1890s, the company expanded its global
reach to over 55 countries by the mid-1920s. Under Macaulay’s
direction, new premium rates and products were developed and
used in each of its international operations.
Robertson Macaulay
‘Unconditional Policy’ advert, 1885
T.B. Macaulay
Robertson Macaulay laying the
cornerstone of the second
Sun Life Head Office, 1914

Sketch of T.B. Macaulay from
‘The President’s Book’
(1928)
The first Sun Life Head Office in
Montreal
Working Life
Investment policies under T.B.
Macaulay also took on greater
significance. The company looked
to common stock investments
to increase its surplus and it was
T.B. Macaulay who was one of
the first to realise the potential
of the new electricity and public
utility developments and the
related investment opportunities
they created. Sun Life achieved
great prosperity under Macaulay’s
investment policies and through his
drive, leadership and commitment
the company became the largest
assurance company in Canada and one
of the world’s leading life assurance
institutions.
T.B. Macaulay’s life and career were
characterised by great activity and relentless
devotion, and although in business he will
forever be primarily associated with Sun
Life, he undertook numerous other roles and
responsibilities in business and finance.
He earned an extraordinary international
reputation. He was a Fellow of the Institute
of the Actuaries of Great Britain, a charter
member of the Actuarial Society of America,
he represented the actuaries of Canada and
the US at the International Congresses
at Paris and Berlin in 1900 and 1906
respectively.
He was a Fellow of the Royal Statistical
Society, President of the Canadian Life
Assurance Officers’ Association and
represented the Leeward Islands at the
Canadian West Indian Trade Conference
in Ottawa. He was also the President of
the Canadian West Indian League and was
awarded honorary presidency of the Naval
League of Canada. He became Chairman of
the National Committee on Food Resources
in 1917 and became the governor of both the
Montreal General Hospital and the Fraser
Institute Public Library. descent, Dr Macaulay wished to share his Aberdeen University conferred Macaulay
T.B. Macaulay’s 1929 visit to his
experimental farm on Lewis
Extract from
minutes of
Sun Life Board
Meeting
October 1927,
congratulating
T.B. Macaulay
on fifty years
service
Philanthropy
Apart from his commitments to business and finance, Dr Macaulay was also a respected humanitarian,
who busied himself with numerous goodwill causes. With several friends from his Bible discussion group
he formed the Welcome Hall Mission in 1892.
The aim of the mission was to assist the
young men whom he encountered as a
parishioner at the Calvary Congregational
Church and it fed those people, and
offered a bed and spiritual guidance. In
1992 the Mission celebrated its 100th year
of continuous operation, and it still exists
today. Macaulay also found time to organise
summer camps for underprivileged boys
from Montreal’s slums.
Despite adopting numerous roles in the
country of his birth, and immersing himself
fully in the Canadian way of life, T.B.
Macaulay remained proud of his Scottish
heritage. Like many immigrants of Scottish
prosperity with the country of his forbears.
An early benefaction saw him choose
his father’s native town of Fraserburgh,
creating a Macaulay fund of over £10,000
to assist the town’s seafaring people. He
contributed generously to the Memorial
Hall and founded bursaries for the pupils
of Fraserburgh Academy.
He made a gift of £30,000 to animal
breeding research at Edinburgh University
and the island of Lewis was also a recipient
of Macaulay’s generosity. He gave a
substantial endowment to the island’s
public library, erected a new wing in its
local hospital and established the Macaulay
Experimental Farm.
In 1930 he donated the capital to purchase
the fifty acre estate in Aberdeen’s
Craigiebuckler - establishing the Macaulay
Institute for Soil Research, as it was then
known.
In recognition of his benefactions,
with an honorary degree and Stornoway
made him the first Freeman of the burgh
for 300 years.

Family gathering at log house,
Mount Victoria Farm, 1905
Main barn at Mount Victoria
Farm
Photo of ‘Lord Aberdeen’,
the Clydesdale stallion of
Mount Victoria Farm, 1917
Farming
Although T.B. Macaulay was an astute and widely respected businessman, his
true passion lay in his hobby: farming. Dr Macaulay was particularly interested in
solving many of the agricultural problems that had plagued Canadian farmers, and
established Mount Victoria Farm in Hudson Heights, near Montreal. The site was
originally planned as a weekend and summer residence, for the Macaulay family,
free from the bustle of Montreal.
It soon evolved, however, into a
large, extremely innovative and
successful experimental station,
where work was conducted for the
development of strains of maize
and soya beans better suited for
Canada’s shorter seasons. Later
the research station would become
renowned for the improvement and
increase of high-producing Holstein
cattle. The farm was the pride, joy
and, indeed, the life of Macaulay.
Although it was the Holstein herd
of cattle that made Mount Victoria
Farm famous, T.B. Macaulay also
had a strong love of horses. The
farm was home to a fine herd of
pure bred Shetland ponies, one
of which was proclaimed Grand
Champion of North America.
Just after World War I Mount
Victoria Farm was home to two
very famous equine residents;
the first was a grand Clydesdale
stallion named ‘Lord Aberdeen’
and the second a Hackney stallion
named ‘Wildfire’. The selection
of Shetland ponies and the name
‘Lord Aberdeen’ gives strength to
the assertion that Macaulay had
a special link with his Scottish
heritage.
Two hangings that advertised
the Mount Victoria Farms and
its most famous occupant,
Joanna Rag Apple Pabst
All American Bull:
Improving the
Holstein Breed
Recent estimates are that 95% of all Holsteins trace their
origins back to Macaulay’s original herd.
T.B. Macaulay, together with
Joe Chandler, Mount Victoria’s
Farm Manager, bought Johanna
Rag Apple Pabst from a dealer
in Wisconsin for $15,000, a
price which would set a new
high for the purchase of a bull
post World War 1. Johanna Rag
Apple Pabst, or ‘Old Joe’ as he
was otherwise known, sired 51
daughters who made 96 records
that averaged 15,234 pounds
of milk and 613.5 pounds of
fat. Macaulay was convinced
that through selective genetics
he could develop a strain of
4% Holsteins from the right
foundation.
To establish the blood line,
Macaulay bought a cow
named ‘Oakhurst Colantha
Abbekerk’ for $900 in 1924,
and after successful breeding,
it was estimated that every
All American Aged cow, save
two, carried strong Johanna
Rag Apple Pabst bloodlines.
This was an amazing
accomplishment for Macaulay.
In fact the most dominant
building at Mount Victoria
was not the lodgings of T.B.
Macaulay, but instead the barn
that housed the prized herd of
Holsteins.
T.B.Macaulay’s most famous
Holstein, the legendary
Johanna Rag Apple Pabst.
Dispersal sale of herd after
T.B. Macaulay’s death, 1942
T.B. Macaulay’s grandson
Doug Macaulay at dedication
ceremony, 1995

Dr William G. Ogg
First Director of the Macaulay Institute for Soil Research
1930 – 1943
Dr William G. Ogg
First Director of the Macaulay
Institute for Soil Research
1930 – 1943
The Macaulay Institute:
Beginnings
As a natural continuation of T.B. Macaulay’s interest in
improving low fertility heath soils, and particularly the
peat soils of Scotland, he offered a large capital sum for
the establishment of a research institute specifically
focused on studying these soils. In 1930 the institute was
established and was appropriately named, in memory of
its chief sponsor, the Macaulay Institute for Soil Research
(MISR).
The original aim of the Institute was to reclaim peat and heath soils
for agriculture via improvements in drainage and cultivation methods
but this aim was later broadened to encompass improving the fertility
of Scottish soils in general.
The institute originally consisted of the site at Craigiebuckler along
with a demonstration farm on Lewis. The first director of MISR,
Dr Ogg, was a native of Aberdeen who completed his first degree at
Aberdeen University before embarking on a Ph.D at Cambridge.
It was my privilege to become one of Dr. Macaulay’s friends and
to stay with him several times in Canada, where I saw something of
his happy home circle and of his scientific pursuits. He was a man of
great sincerity and strength of character, kindly and always anxious to
help his fellows. He lived simply and gave generously.
Dr William G. Ogg

The Macaulay Institute:
The Dirt Doctors
From an original staff complement of just eight, by 1962 the MISR had grown to
employ 180 ‘dirt doctors’, as the scientists were called, and a new building had
been opened on the northern boundary of the estate. The scope of the work
conducted had also broadened significantly and included studies of soils and plants
that would provide valuable information on the maintenance and improvement of
soil fertility for crop production and animal requirements.
Early major achievements of the MISR include:
1 The Soil Survey of Scotland.
Soils were classified for the first time according to the geological nature of the parent
material and within this classification into soil series according to drainage and other
characteristics of the soil profile.
2 Development of the spectrochemical methods for trace element analysis of soils.
The work of the Institute made a major contribution to the realisation that trace
element deficiencies in soils and plants could be a direct cause of many animal disorders.
3 Determination of soil fertility characteristics in Scotland.
Regular soil testing and the calibration of the results from soil extractions with field based
crop responses led to a general increase in soil fertility and associated crop yields,
particularly after World War II.
The Macaulay Institute:
Into The 21 st Century
The Institute in its current form was founded in April 1987 by the merger of the
Macaulay Institute for Soil Research and the Hill Farming Research Organisation.
Today the Macaulay Institute, as it is now known, is the largest interdisciplinary
research organisation of its kind in Europe.
The Institute mission is:
To be an international leader in research on the sustainable use of land and its natural
resources for the benefit of people, their communities and the environment.
The 300 staff and postgraduate students are drawn from over 25 countries, and conduct research in
Scotland, across Europe and internationally, with a wide range of partner organisations.
The Institute goal is that the research undertaken provides evidence that will help shape future
environmental and rural-development policy both in Scotland and internationally.
“I am delighted to say that more than three quarters of a century after
it was established, the Macaulay Institute continues to develop its
research activities building on T.B. Macaulay’s vision for improving the
communities and environment of rural Scotland.”
Professor Richard Aspinall
Chief Executive of the Macaulay Institute
Since 2006

The Macaulay Institute:
Timeline
1833 T.B. Macaulay’s father Robertson born
1854 Robertson Macaulay emigrates to Canada
1860 Thomas Bassett Macaulay born in Hamilton, Ontario
1877 T.B. Macaulay begins his working life at Sun Life
1880 Promoted to Actuary at Sun Life
1881 Marries first wife Henrietta Bragg
1892 Establishes Welcome Hall Mission
1896 Becomes Director of Sun Life
1899 Mount Victoria Farm purchased
1900 Represents actuaries of Canada and US in Paris
1906 Becomes Managing Director of Sun Life
Represents actuaries of Canada and US in Berlin
1912 Marries second wife Margaret Allan
1915 Becomes President of Sun Life
1920 Marries third wife Margaret Palin
1924 Purchases Oakhurst Colantha Abbekerk
1926 Purchases Johanna Rag Apple Pabst
1927 Celebrates 50 years at Sun Life
1929 Visits Isle of Lewis on his second trip to Scotland
1930 Establishes the Macaulay Institute for Soil Research (MISR)
1938 One and only visit to Macaulay Institute, Aberdeen
Receives the Freedom of Stornoway
1942 T.B. Macaulay dies aged 81
Over a thousand mourners attend his funeral
1987 Macaulay Institute founded through merger of
MISR and Hill Farm Research Organisation
2005 Macaulay Institute celebrates 75th anniversary
Thanks go to the following for assistance in the production of this material
Dr W. Lambert Gardiner, Hudson Historical Society
Heritage Canada
Nancy Maitland, Sun Life
Rod Hodgson, Hudson Historical Society
Doug, Tom and Diana Macaulay
Chris Reid, Fraserburgh Heritage Centre
Jamie Watt, Macaulay Institute

For further information contact:
Dr. Richard Birnie
Head of Communications
and Outreach
r.birnie@macaulay.ac.uk
The Macaulay Institute
Craigiebuckler, Aberdeen,
Scotland, UK
T: +44(0)1224 498200
www.macaulay.ac.uk