Archibald James ‘Archie’ Lamont was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1892. He was the only child of Joseph Kirkpatrick Lamont and his wife Isabella Watson. Joseph Kirkpatrick Lamont was a very successful paint and decorating journeyman who emigrated to Toronto, Canada, in 1913, and continued his work there.
Known within her family as ‘Meg’, Margaret Louisa Cunningham Wares was the second child (of six altogether) of George Morison Wares and his wife Helen/Ellen Louisa Willsher. She had also been born in Glasgow, but in 1887. George Morison was a boot & shoe maker who ran his own shop and retail store. Meg grew up and later worked in her father’s boot and shoe store in Glasgow.
Archie was a student at the Royal Technical College (RTC) in Glasgow in 1912, 1913 & 1914, and he graduated with a 2nd Class Certificate. College records show that Archie had worked as a ‘fitter’ prior to his admission. Third generation removed recall includes family stories that Archie worked in one of the Glasgow shipyards, but whether that was before or after his tenure at the RTC is not presently known.
Archie and Meg were married in Glasgow in late December 1918, very shortly after the end of the Great War. There’s speculation that they met at some kind of church event. When married, Archie was described as an ‘Engine Fitter Journeyman’. Less than a year and a half later the couple emigrated to Toronto, Canada, arriving at the end of February in 1920. They lived initially with Archie’s parents in the Beaches area of east Toronto [Joseph & Isabella had emigrated in 1913, while Archie was studying at the RTC]. Two children were born there (1921 & 1923). By 1931 Archie and his family were living in a brick house which they owned on the east side of Woodbine Avenue, just below Kingston Road and the cemetery at St. John’s, Norway. Then, in 1941, Archie and Meg bought a large 2 storey house on the ridge above the Beaches, just a couple of streets south east of the intersection at Kingston Road and Main Street.
After emigrating in 1920 Archie found employment very quickly at the Toronto Works of Massey-Ferguson Limited. His details from the 1931 Census of Canada describe him as ‘Master Mechanic’ in the farm implements industry. As the Work’s Master Mechanic, he is known to have travelled to the United States in 1942 under shadowy war time circumstances that have not been made public. He is also known to have travelled to England and Scotland at least twice (1950 & 1955), to manage things for the company when new factories were being built and fitted at Manchester and Kilmarnock. Archie’s normal task at the Toronto Works was to oversee the operations of at least 4 technical/mechanical departments.
Archie retired in 1964. Meg suffered a devastating stroke in 1968 and lived until 1971. Archie died in 1974.
Meg and Archie spent about 1 week of their annual vacations in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s at summer cottages on lake shores in Muskoka, in Haliburton (after about 1945), and (after 1949) north of Kingston.
For a few years prior to and then after retiring, Archie and Meg liked to travel to England and Scotland, to visit friends and relations and vacation at favourite spots there.
Some time in the late 1940s, Archie took to pencil sketching and water-colour painting. The earliest completed and framed painting of his that is known has his notation ‘1949’ in the bottom right corner. He continued to paint primarily landscapes until perhaps the mid to late 1950s. It’s obvious that Archie took many black and white photographs used some of them as image bases for some of his paintings.
Meg, on the other hand, took to oil colour painting. The earliest known of her works is from [1952], and the last is dated 1964. Her landscape settings cover all four seasons, all with vibrant and connected colour. She was not a photographer, and no sketches by her are known, so perhaps she based her paintings on photographs that Archie took on her behalf?
find details about Archie’s watercolour paintings here
find details about Meg’s oil paintings here