Henry Marshall Tory Building - Edmonton, Alberta CA. - People-Named Places on Waymarking.com

The genealogy of the Tory (or Torrey) families of North America is interesting, and too long for inclusion here. The Torrey Families and their Children of America was compiled by Prof. F. C. Torrey of an American college and published privately in Lakehurst, N.J. (Vol. 1 in 1924 and Vol.2 in 1939.)

Henry Marshall Tory was born on January 11, 1864, on a farm near Guysboro, N.S., being the great-grandson of James Tory, who had been a soldier of the 71st Scottish Regiment fighting in the American Revolutionary war, and who, after a period as prisoner of war, received at the close of the campaign, a grant of land near Guysboro. Tory's early education was imposed from the outside, the choice of studies depended more on the judgment of the teacher and the aptitude of the pupil. A plenitude of farm work with his studies was seasoned with the usual healthy activities of the country, fishing, sailing, snow-shoeing and skating. His family moved into the town of Guysboro about the time his primary schooling was finished and there Tory found his first job, as a clerk in the dry goods store.

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In Tory's student and early McGill staff years he was undoubtedly inspired and influenced by three of the outstanding personalities of McGill of that day. We have already mentioned Dawson, the Principal, who remained Tory"s firm friend until Dawson"s death; there was Clark Murray, Professor of Moral Philosophy, who taught Tory his formal philosophy and no doubt fed fuel to a philosophical flair within him; and also Alexander (ÒPatÓ) Johnson, Professor of Mathematics and Dean of the Arts Faculty, a Òwise and witty IrishmanÓ from Trinity College, Dublin. And another fine friendship of Tory"s should be cited, beginning in 1898; in that year Callendar resigned from the Research Professorship of Physics to go to the Imperial College, London, and a young man of twenty-eight, Ernest Rutherford from New Zealand and the Cavendish Laboratory, was appointed in his place. This young man laid the foundation of a great research career in his nine years at McGill, and later in England became the celebrated Lord Rutherford, Nobel prizeman, propounder of the Nuclear Theory of the Atoms of Matter, and originator of all subsequent work on Atomic Disruption, which led to the atomic bomb. Tory, six years his senior, and Rutherford were compatible, helped one another and became close friends, and maintained this friendship throughout their lives, though their careers were cast very far apart.

At the beginning of this century Tory was officially Associate Professor of Mathematics in the McGill Faculty of Arts, but in addition he played a great part as unofficial adviser to Dean Johnson on student affairs, and was really, though not so named, sub- or assistant-Dean. When "Pat" was succeeded in the Deanship by Dr. Charles Moyse, Tory continued the same role, and as a result became a sort of special ambassador of McGill throughout Canada. He possessed the special talents of a wise and friendly diplomat, together with the human quality and astuteness to comprehend basic factors governing the evolution of institutions and events. At this time McGill was considering the establishment of branch junior colleges in Canada and Newfoundland; Tory was despatched on missions to appraise the possibilities and, where necessary, conduct negotiations; the McGill University College of British Columbia was established in 1906 as a direct result of his mission. This college functioned as a branch college of McGill until May 1915, when it was absorbed in the newly created University of British Columbia.

In 1905 the Provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta were carved out of the Northwest Territories by the Federal administration of Sir Wilfred Laurier, and the provincial governments so formed decided to establish their own universities. In 1907 the first Alberta Government founded its university and selected Dr. Tory as President. Undoubtedly his success in British Columbia and the contacts and knowledge of the West thus acquired, were important factors to prompt this choice. He arrived in Edmonton, in the spring of 1908, and found that a splendid estate of 258 acres was suggested for the university, on the south bank of the Saskatchewan River, in the western section of the town of Strathcona, across the river from the capital. His task was to erect a modern university in this wheat field and bush. "He had to buy a farm and people it with colleges!" An interesting picture of the early days and of Tory"s enthusiasm is given by Dr. E. K. Broadus, the first Professor of English. "In June 1908, the President of a University not yet in being, in a Province I had never heard of, in a country I had never visited, came to Harvard and offered me the Professorship of English. The offer sounded like midsummer madness! I think that what I accepted was not the position or the salary, but the man! . . . In September of that year I found him ensconced in the attic of a small brick public school building. There assembled the four of us. We were to constitute the Faculty, veritable "philosophes sous les toits"; and he, and we, and it, were for the nonce the University of Alberta." Undoubtedly many a young man, professor, lecturer, instructor, demonstrator, came to the new University with the same or kindred thoughts, but all inspired by the enthusiasm of the man who had selected them.

The university opened its doors in September, 1908, with one Faculty, 5 professors and 32 students; it gave its first few degrees in May, 1912. When Tory left the University, May, 1928, it had five faculties with their subsidiary schools, about 1,600 students, working, and some of them residing, in seven or eight modern well equipped buildings. The fine group of structures which will adorn this splendid university site is not yet complete, but Tory saw that a fundamental architectural plan was devised to be followed as the years went by. The student body now numbers over 4,000; its graduates have done well in war and peace; many of them rest "in Flanders Field" and other hallowed places.

Great War I, 1914-1918, was so wide-spread in its incidence, and so threatening in its consequences, that Tory"s ardent spirit could not be satisfied with ordinary university routine duties at home; he was noticeably restless to serve more directly and intensively, and eventually his opportunity came. In 1916 he had been requested to prepare a Special Report on the Discharged Men from the Army for the National Council of the Y.M.C.A. Undoubtedly this report was a prime reason for the later invitation to draw up a plan and organize regular study courses for Canadian soldiers in England. On this plan (1917) was founded an Educational Section of the Army, unique in its purposes, later known as the "Khaki College." In January 1918 Tory arrived in England to be President of this novel enterprise, which became the forerunner of kindred projects for education in the military forces of many nations. The Khaki College was timely, for in the trying, restless, demobilization period of 1918-1919, it aided greatly as a steadying and disciplinary influence to many men besides helping to make up time in their education. This College lasted just less than two years, during which about 50,000 men took courses and about a thousand of them received educational credit for a year of regular college work.

The return to his university position, autumn 1919, was the end of a unique interlude in Tory's career. The war had left a lasting impression upon him of the great value of scientific pursuits in a nation; he became tireless in his advocacy that universities, governments, industrial firms and societies should all realize the great importance of scientific discovery, of practical application of scientific devices, and of general guidance by the scientific method. He convinced the Government of Alberta, and helped them found the Alberta Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, becoming its first Chairman.

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Tory's last years were intended to be spent "in retirement", writing books and essays; but he gave these years to one more new institution of education, namely, Carleton College of Ottawa. This college originated in the ideas and discussions of some public spirited Ottawans. Previous to Great War II a committee of Y.W.C.A. members and others had discussed the inadequate facilities for certain types of higher education in the capital, and with the outbreak of the war in 1939 the need grew more acute, because thousands of young men and women, with education interrupted by the war, were coming to the capital to work in the military services, and in the government offices and laboratories. Tory was invited to join a group of men to find means for a practical solution of this important problem, and in 1942 a Board of Governors and a Faculty to give two years of college work were established. Once started Tory never looked back; he was appointed by the Board the first President at age 79, and all his tremendous educational experience, his knowledge, his energy, he gave devotedly and without stint. The college began in borrowed buildings with 35 instructors lecturing in the evening to 700 students, only a few of whom intended to continue their studies to a degree. At the time of Tory's death, Feb. 6th, 1947, the college had 78 instructors, lecturing in day and evening classes to an enrollment of 1,500 students, most of whom were pressing towards a degree. At the present time third year work is offered, the first permanent building has been purchased, and a subscription campaign for funds is in progress to provide for this building with an extension, at an estimated cost of $500,000.