The manuscript signature was applied by employees far removed from the top echelons of the bank, and certainly not by Donald Smith. Before his elevation to the peerage, the engraved signature of Donald Smith was done neatly and modestly enough. After he became Baron Strathcona & Mount Royal, his engraved or typed signature "Strathcona" is scrawled across the note in quite a large hand. By 1912 he was 92 years of age. At this time R. B. Angus was the president of the bank and Baron Strathcona was the honorary president, so both appear on alternating denominations. Only the president's signature appears typed at the left, i.e. R. B. Angus, on the 1912 notes. Strathcona ceased to be the president in 1905. He died in 1914 so he disappeared from the notes of that issue.
Sir Vincent Meredith, seen on the left of all 1912 denominations, was the general manager. (He in turn succeeded Angus as president in 1913.)
Examples of the Smith and Strathcona signatures can be seen and compared on notes illustrated on pages 291 to 296 of the catalogue.
