| |
Henry L. Gagnon: Royal Bank's Soldier in Pinstripes
 |
|
| |
|
Henry L. Gagnon in 1929 |
|
Royal Bank was exceedingly fortunate that Henry L. Gagnon, a career Royal banker from Arichat, Nova Scotia, had the extraordinary misfortune of finding himself at the heart of two of the 20th century's bloodiest European conflicts, the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) and the Second World War (1939-1945).
As manager of Royal Bank's branch in Barcelona, Spain (1928-1939), Gagnon was swept up in that nation's brutal civil war between Loyalist and Fascist factions. As the Loyalist capital, Barcelona was subjected to a ruthless campaign of air bombardment and, ultimately, to a 30-month siege leading to the city's capitulation in January 1939. In the face of grave personal danger, Gagnon kept the Barcelona branch open throughout the war and frequently risked his life travelling alone in the British consular car to France to deliver documents and return to Spain with food supplies.
At the bank's annual meeting in January 1937, senior bank officials personally commended Gagnon, citing his exhibition of "a rare sense of responsibility and loyalty... by continuing to administer the affairs of the branch under most trying conditions and regardless of personal dangers."
|
|
| |
Royal Bank's Barcelona, Spain branch in 1930 |
After the fall of Barcelona, Gagnon was transferred, in June 1939, to manage the bank's Paris branch. An ostensible reward for his service in Spain, Gagnon's transfer landed him in the midst of an even greater conflict. Soon after the Second World War began in September 1939, Gagnon evacuated the bank's negotiable securities to Cognac, in south-western France. Then, on the night of June 10, 1940, with the advancing German army just hours away from capturing Paris, Gagnon and his staff packed a truck with branch records and cash and joined the convoy fleeing the city for the still free southern sector of the country.
Gagnon reopened the branch in Javrezac, a suburb of Cognac, on June 13, 1940. As the German advance engulfed Paris and kept coming toward the south, Royal Bank's head office ordered Gagnon to abandon the branch and escape. Gagnon refused. Determined to keep the branch open, he signed over control of the subsidiary, The Royal Bank of Canada (France), to three French nationals on his staff. He and his family then crossed the English channel from Bayonne to Plymouth and safety.
As a result of his disobedience, The Royal Bank of Canada (France) remained open and in July 1940 was granted permission by the occupying German forces to return to Paris and resume operations from its offices in rue Scribe. The branch remained open throughout the war, albeit under strict limitations, providing essential services to its account holders. Gagnon returned to Canada and took up the management of Royal Bank's branch in Sherbrooke, Quebec, where he remained until retiring in September 1950.
|
|
