William Molson (November 5, 1793 – February 18, 1875) was a Canadian politician, entrepreneur and philanthropist. He was the founder and President of Molson Bank, which was in 1925 absorbed by the Bank of Montreal. He was the son of the founder of the Molson family dynasty in Canadian business. Early life Born Nov. 5th, 1793, he was the son of John Molson (1763-1836) & Sarah Insley Vaughan, and was born in Montreal, Lower Canada. After 1828, William and his partner John Badgley were in the dry goods trade, and advertisements of iron pots, bake ovens, coal ovens, potash kettles, sheet iron and rosin were their staple, as well as foreign alcohols like Granada rum, Cognac and Bordeaux brandy. In partnership with his father, he operated the St Mary's Foundry, and did supply tools for the construction of the Rideau Canal. In 1831 the foundry was leased to Bennet & Henderson and it was the site of the furnishing of the Royal William, after her hull had been built in Quebec. William would later prove himself as more a salesman than a plant operator. On their own On 10 January 1836, the paterfamilias died. John Molson Jr. was disinterested in the brewery business, and hence left the field to his two brothers. Thomas Molson had earlier returned in 1834 from the self-imposed exile in Kingston, Ontario, to resume and expand the distillery business. In 1836, the aftershock of the shenanigans in the financial industry south of the border caused the Canadian government to suspend specie payments (with one intermission) from 16 May 1837 to 1 June 1839, during the economic crisis of 1837 and the Upper Canada Rebellion of 1837 and again the Lower Canada Rebellion of 1838. The younger brothers Molson filled the need with banknotes printed at their expense and printed on Wall Street. The cash-starved economy return sluggishly to life and the fledgling Molson Bank was enjoined by special decree from continuing to issue paper. The Molson Bank twice was denied government approbation. In 1843, William joined the board of directors of the Bank of Montreal. William sat on the board of directors of numerous railway companies between 1845 and 1850: the Champlain and St Lawrence Railroad Company, the Champlain and New York Railroad Company, the Montreal and New York Railroad Company, the Montreal and Champlain Railroad Company, the Lake St Louis and Province Line Railway Company,