Memorable Manitobans: Thomas Hart (1835-1912)

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Thomas Hart
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Missionary, educator.

Born in Paisley, Scotland on 6 September 1835, he came to Canada with his parents in 1842. His preliminary education was received at Perth, Ontario. He entered Queen’s University in 1857, (BA 1860, MA 1868 and BD 1880.) Later he taught grammar school in Wardsville, Ontario, and was principal of the Perth grammar school for a number of years.

Coming to Manitoba in 1872, he entered missionary work and taught at Manitoba College, lecturing in Hebrew and French. He became a professor in1874. He was one of the founders of the University of Manitoba in 1877, a member of the University’s council, member of the Provincial Board of Education, secretary of the Board of Studies of the University in 1880, and from 1878 an examiner in the classics, member of the Board of Management and of the Senate of Manitoba College and secretary of both bodies, member of the Protestant section of the Board of Education for the Province 1878-1890, an examiner of the Public School Teachers of Canada and an inspector of the Collegiate Schools of Manitoba for several years.

In 1872, he married Isabella Margaret Malloch (1846-1928) of Perth, Ontario. They had two children: Ethel Hamilton Hart (1874-1903, wife of Rev. James Skinner) and William Malloch Hart (1881-1923). He was one of the founders of the Manitoba Historical Society and its President from 1887 to 1888. He was associated with the management of the Indian missions, devoting much of his time to their advancement. From 1880-1890 he was Moderator of the Synod of the Presbyterian Church in Manitoba and the North-West Territories. He retired from his post as professor of classical languages and literature in April 1909.

He died at his Winnipeg home, 448 Qu'Appelle Avenue, on 17 August 1912 and was buried in the Kildonan Presbyterian Cemetery. He is commemorated by Hart Avenue in Winnipeg.

See also:

Mission Work Among the Indians of the North-West, A Sermon by Thomas Hart (1890).

Thomas Hart, Dictionary of Canadian Biography XIV, 457-58.

Sources:

Pioneers and Early Citizens of Manitoba, Winnipeg: Manitoba Library Association, 1971.

“Rev. Dr. Thomas Hart dead,” Winnipeg Tribune, 17 August 1912, page 1.

Birth and death registrations, Manitoba Vital Statistics.

Dictionary of Manitoba Biography by John M. “Jack” Bumsted, Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 1999.

Obituaries and burial transcriptions, Manitoba Genealogical Society.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 1 December 2018

Memorable Manitobans

Memorable Manitobans

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