Macpherson was born in Castle Leathers in Inverness parish,
Scotland, in 1818 and came to
Lower Canada with his family in 1835. He became a clerk in the
Montreal office of his older brother's shipping business, which transported passengers and freight in
Upper and
Lower Canada. During the
Lower Canada Rebellion, from November 4 until December 31, 1838, Macpherson served as a private in the Montreal Light Infantry. In 1842, he became a senior partner in the business. In partnership with
Alexander Tilloch Galt and
Luther Hamilton Holton, Macpherson acquired the shares of the
Montreal and Kingston Railway, knowing that their rail line was required as part of a planned railway connection between Montreal and
Hamilton. He was part of a contracting firm formed to extend the
Grand Trunk Railway in Upper Canada. In 1853, he moved to
Toronto. He helped set up the Toronto Rolling Mills Company, which supplied track to the Grand Trunk. He also served as a director of the
Bank of Upper Canada. In 1864, he was elected to the
Legislative Council of the Province of Canada for Saugeen division and, in 1867, he was appointed to the Senate as a
Conservative and served until his death. Macpherson was a member of the arbitration board that dealt with the financial issues associated with the creation of the separate provinces of
Ontario and
Quebec after
Confederation. He led the resistance in the Senate to
John Rose's proposed changes to banking legislation, and some of Macpherson's proposals made their way into the Bank Act of 1871. He served as
Speaker of the Senate from 1880 to 1883. In the early eighties, the legalization of marriage with a deceased wife's sister was under discussion in the
Parliament of Canada. On the day that the bill received its second reading in the Red Chamber, Macpherson invited Mrs.
Susan Anna Wiggins, whose 'The Gunhilda Letters: Marriage with a Deceased Wife's Sister' letters of support for the bill had gained attention, to take a seat on his right, an honour which was never before accorded to any woman but the wife of a Governor-General. To commemorate his time as Speaker, Macpherson, as well as other Speakers of the Senate, had his name crafted in stained glass in the ceiling of the front foyer of the Senate Chamber. Macpherson also served in cabinet as a
Minister without Portfolio from 1880 to 1883 and as
Minister of the Interior from October 1883 to 1885. ==Family==