King’s College 1934
by
Clara Dennis …Strolling through the beautiful little town (Windsor)
itself, I come to the shaded grounds where untill
a few years ago, when fire destroyed its
ancient halls, stood King’s College, the oldest English College in Canada.
What a time there was launching higher education in Nova Scotia! Plans
were submitted to the British Government in 1783
for a college where youth might receive a "virtuous education, thus diffusing
literature, loyalty and good morals among his Majesty’s subjects in Nova Scotia." Windsor
seems instinctively to have been chosen
as the seat of the college. Towards its erection £15,000 was contributed
by the Imperial Government and the Assembly at Halifax gave a grant of £400
a year. In 1790 the work of the building was begun. Seven years later the college
was completed suffieciently for occupation and it’s doors were opened. At that
time there were five principal religious bodies in the Province – Episcopalians,
Roman Catholics, Presbyterians, Baptists and Methodists. The Episcopalians were
the smallest of the five. All went well until the statutes of the college
were drawn up. These, according to the charter which had been granted by the Crown
in 1802, were to be drawn up by the Governors of the College. The charter named
certain officials who were to be Governors. One of the officials was the judge
of the Vice-Admiralty Court. At the time this judge was Dr. Alexander Croke. Dr.
Croke was one of those figures who from time to time have entered the stage of
Nova Scotia history for a brief period, then passed into the wings to reappear
no more but who, while on the stage, dominated the scene. Shortly after Dr. Croke
arrived in Halifax to take the position of the Vice-Admiralty Court which was
in the year 1801, he was appointed to the Council, occupying a position next to
the Chief Justice in Rank. Dr. Croke purchased for his home thirty acres
on the Peninsula of Halifax and called the place "Studleigh" in honour
of Studleigh Prior, his family estate in Oxfordshire, On this beautifully wooded
property, within sight of the entrance to Halifax Harbour and the waters of the
North West Arm, Judge Croke built himself a fine house and laid out attractive
and beautiful grounds… Judge Croke exerted a strong influence on higher education
in our Province. It was he who drew up the statutes for the college. With the
drawing of the statutes it became apparent that instead of being open wide that
all might enter, the doors of learning had been but set ajar and admitted only
a few, namely such students as signed the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Church of
England. On the committee that drew up the statutes for the college, besides
Judge Croke, there were two others, the Bishop (Bishop
Charles Inglis) and Chief Justice Blowers. The Chief Justice concurred in
all the statutes, but the Bishop dissented from the statute requiring all students
on matriculation to sign the Thirty-Nine Articles of Belief. The Board of Governors,
however, adopted the statutes as drawn by judge Croke and they were printed and
circulated. The Bishop prosecuted the appeal to the Archbishop of Canterbury
with the result the the whole code was vetoed and a new code which the Bishop
approved was drawn up and adopted. After fourteen years it was printed and circulated. The
new code set the doors of the college further ajar, but did not open them wide.
Still only the few might enter, for while this new code permitted students to
enter the halls of learning it did not allow them to leave with honours or with
degrees unless they had perscribed to the Thirty-nine Articles of Belief. Under
the new statutes also, students were obliged to swear not to frequent Romish Mass
or meeting houses of Presbeterians, Baptists or Methodists or places of worship
of any other dissenters, but to attend religious exercises of the Church of England
within the college walls. Such was the beginning of higher education in the Province
of Nova Scotia. Time brings great changes. In 1923 King’s College became
part of a university whose doors are wide open to all, irrespective of creed,
and, strangely enough, stands on what was once Judge Croke’s estate of Studleigh
in Halifax.
Excerpt From – Down in Nova
Scotia ; My Own, My Native Land
by Clara Dennis
The Ryerson Press, Toronto
1934
HRL 917.16 D41d Pg 63 – 66 Windsor
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