The subject of this notice, the member of Parliament for South Renfrew, is of full Scotch blood on both sides of the family, being a son of Thomas and Barbara (McCoy) Bannerman, and born in the parish of Kildonan, Sutherlandshire, Scotland, on the 5th of November, 1841. His father was a seafaring man, and after the son had received a fair drill in a parish school, he served an apprenticeship at the same business.
Not caring to continue this precarious aquatic life any longer, in the autumn of 1857, our subject came to Canada West, and for seven years was in a general store owned by his maternal uncle, William McCoy, in the township of McNab, county of Renfrew, which part of the country has been his home from that date.
Since 1865 Mr. Bannerman has been in the lumbering business for himself, with head quarters at Renfrew village, having an extensive trade most of the time until 1879, when, there being a great depression in the lumber market, he temporarily suspended the manufacture of this article.
Mr. Bannerman was reeve of the township of McNab for three years; in the autumn of 1878 was elected to the House of Commons, and at the time of writing this sketch is attending the second session of the Parliament, which was opened on the 13th of February, 1879. His seat is on the right, he being a Liberal Conservative, and he is rarely out of it during the whole session, being very attentive to business.
Mr. Bannerman is a Royal Arch Mason and an Odd Fellow; an adherent of the Presbyterian church, and a substantial citizen of his riding.
In 1867 he married Miss Isabella Campbell of Egansville, county of Renfrew, and a native of Breadalbane, county of Glengarry, Ontario. They have one child living, and lost one while quite young.