John Strachan: Difference between revisions
→Further reading: add cite, format |
→High Church views: his problems |
||
Line 45: | Line 45: | ||
===High Church views=== |
===High Church views=== |
||
Strachan was intensely devoted to the promotion of the Anglican position in Canada. He was born a Presbyterian in Scotland, but he never fully accepted it and first received communion at an Anglican church in Kingston. He was strongly influenced by the High Church bishop of New York, [[John H. Hobart]]. Strachan preached that the Anglican Church was a branch of the universal church, and that it was independent of both Pope and king. Like most Protestants of the era he denounced the Roman Catholic Church for corruption. He rejected the revivalism of the Methodists as an American heresy, and stressed the ancient practices and historic liturgy of his church. While a High Churchman, Strachan's view alienated many of his clergy and laity who were drawn drawn from the ranks of Irish Protestant immigrants of more low-church persuasion.<ref>Oliver R. Osmond, "The Churchmanship of John Strachan," ''Journal of the Canadian Church Historical Society,'' (1974) 16#3 pp 46-59. </ref> |
Strachan was intensely devoted to the promotion of the Anglican position in Canada. He was born a Presbyterian in Scotland, but he never fully accepted it and first received communion at an Anglican church in Kingston. He was strongly influenced by the High Church bishop of New York, [[John H. Hobart]]. Strachan preached that the Anglican Church was a branch of the universal church, and that it was independent of both Pope and king. Like most Protestants of the era he denounced the Roman Catholic Church for corruption. He rejected the revivalism of the Methodists as an American heresy, and stressed the ancient practices and historic liturgy of his church. While a High Churchman, Strachan's view alienated many of his clergy and laity who were drawn drawn from the ranks of Irish Protestant immigrants of more low-church persuasion.<ref>Oliver R. Osmond, "The Churchmanship of John Strachan," ''Journal of the Canadian Church Historical Society,'' (1974) 16#3 pp 46-59. </ref> |
||
He actively promoted missionary work, using the the Diocesan Theological Institute at Cobourg to train clergy to handle frontier conditions. Much of his effort after 1840 was undermined by theological disputes in the Church, as between High Church tractarians and Low Church evangelicals. He also faced external attacks from political reformers and rival denominations.<ref> J. D. Purdy, "John Strachan and the Diocesan Theological Institute at Cobourg, 1842-1852," ''Ontario History'' (1973) 65#2 pp 113-123</ref> |
|||
==Commemoration== |
==Commemoration== |
Revision as of 11:03, 13 September 2013
John Strachan | |
---|---|
![]() John Strachan, Bishop of Toronto | |
Born | April 12, 1778 Aberdeen, Scotland |
Died | November 1, 1867 Toronto | (aged 89)
Occupation | Bishop of Toronto |
Spouse | Ann Wood (m 1808, d. 1865) |
Parent(s) | John Strachan and Elizabeth Findlayson |
John Strachan (/ˈstrɔːn/; April 12, 1778 – November 1, 1867) was an influential figure in Upper Canada and the first Anglican Bishop of Toronto. He is best known as a political bishop who held many government positions and promoted education from common schools to helping to found the University of Toronto.
Gauvreau says in the 1820s he was "the most eloquent and powerful Upper Canadian exponent of an anti-republican social order based upon the tory principles of hierarchy and subordination in both church and state."[1] Craig characterizes him as "the Canadian arch tory of his era" for his intense conservatism. Craig argues that Strachan "believed in an ordered society, an established church, the prerogative of the crown, and prescriptive rights; he did not believe that the voice of the people was the voice of God."[2]
Life and work
Early life
Strachan was the youngest of six children born to a quarry worker in Aberdeen, Scotland. He graduated from King's College, Aberdeen in 1797. After his father died in an accident in 1794, Strachan tutored students and taught school to finance his own education.[3]
In 1799 he emigrated to Kingston, Upper Canada to tutor the children of other British and United Empire Loyalist immigrants. In Kingston one of his students was John Beverley Robinson, future attorney general of Upper Canada. At the same time, he studied to become ordained.
In 1803 Strachan was ordained as a priest in the Church of England. He moved to Cornwall, where he taught at a grammar school and married in 1807 Ann McGill nee Wood, widow of Andrew McGill.[4] Together they had nine children, some of whom died young.[5]
He moved to York just before the War of 1812, where he became rector of St. James' church (which would later become his Cathedral) and headmaster of the Home District Grammar School. During the Battle of York in 1813, Strachan negotiated the surrender of the city with American general Henry Dearborn. He is credited with saving the city from American troops eager to loot and burn it.
Family Compact
After the war he became a pillar of the Family Compact, the conservative elite that controlled the colony. He was a member of the Executive Council of Upper Canada from 1815 to 1836 as well as the Legislative Council from 1820 to 1841. He was an influential advisor to the Lieutenant-Governors of Upper Canada and the other members of the Councils and Assemblies, many of whom were his former students. The "Family Compact" were the elite who shared his fierce loyalty to the British monarchy, his strict and exclusive Toryism and the Established Church (Anglicanism), and his contempt for slavery, Presbyterians, Methodists, American republicanism, and reformism. Strachan was a leader of anti-American elements, which he saw as a republican and democratic threat that promised chaos and an end to a well-ordered society.[6]
Strachan invented the "militia myth" to the effect that the local militia had done more to defend Canada than the British army. Canadian historians reject the militia myth.[7][8]
Strachan supported a strict interpretation of the Constitutional Act of 1791, claiming that clergy reserves were to be given to the Church of England alone rather than to Protestants in general. In 1826 this interpretation was opposed by Egerton Ryerson, who advocated the separation of church and state and argued that the reserves should be sold for the benefit of education in the province. Although Strachan controlled the reserves through the Clergy Corporation for much of this time, he was ultimately forced to oversee the selling off of most of the land in 1854.
Educational interests
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b7/John_Strachan_bust.jpg/170px-John_Strachan_bust.jpg)
Much of Strachan's life and work was focused on education. He wanted Upper Canada to be under Church of England control, in order to avoid American influence. He tried to set up annual reviews for grammar schools to make sure they were following Church of England doctrines, and tried to introduce Andrew Bell's education system from Britain, although these acts were vetoed by the Legislative Assembly. In 1827 Strachan chartered King's College, an Anglican university, although it was not actually created until 1843. In 1839 he was consecrated the first Anglican bishop of Toronto alongside Aubrey George Spencer, the first Bishop of Newfoundland, at Lambeth Palace August 4.]. He founded Trinity College in 1851 after King's College was secularized as the University of Toronto.
In 1835 he was forced to resign from the Executive Council, and he resigned from politics in 1841 after the Act of Union. He continued to influence his former students, although the Family Compact declined in the new Province of Canada. Strachan helped organize the Lambeth Conference of Anglican bishops in 1867 but died before it was held. Strachan was buried in a vault in the chancel of St. James' Cathedral. He was succeeded by Alexander Neil Bethune.
First Nations
Strachan was concerned with the Native peoples and called on people to embrace these "sons of nature" as brothers. He claimed that the United States desired Upper Canada primarily to exterminate the indigenous tribes and free up the West for American expansion. Strachan defended the autonomy of the Natives, the superiority of British governance, and the centrality of Upper Canada in the theatre of war against the U.S. He rejected the prevalent assumption at the time that Natives were simply pawns in the contest and gave an original and influential explanation of why Upper Canada was vital to both Native and Imperial concerns.[9]
High Church views
Strachan was intensely devoted to the promotion of the Anglican position in Canada. He was born a Presbyterian in Scotland, but he never fully accepted it and first received communion at an Anglican church in Kingston. He was strongly influenced by the High Church bishop of New York, John H. Hobart. Strachan preached that the Anglican Church was a branch of the universal church, and that it was independent of both Pope and king. Like most Protestants of the era he denounced the Roman Catholic Church for corruption. He rejected the revivalism of the Methodists as an American heresy, and stressed the ancient practices and historic liturgy of his church. While a High Churchman, Strachan's view alienated many of his clergy and laity who were drawn drawn from the ranks of Irish Protestant immigrants of more low-church persuasion.[10]
He actively promoted missionary work, using the the Diocesan Theological Institute at Cobourg to train clergy to handle frontier conditions. Much of his effort after 1840 was undermined by theological disputes in the Church, as between High Church tractarians and Low Church evangelicals. He also faced external attacks from political reformers and rival denominations.[11]
Commemoration
- In the summer of 2004, a bust of John Strachan was erected in the quadrangle of Trinity College at the University of Toronto.
- Strachan Avenue, running from the original site of Trinity College to Lake Shore Blvd., is also named in his honour.
References
- ^ Gauvreau, 2004
- ^ G. M. Craig, "STRACHAN, JOHN," in Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online (2000)
- ^ Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online.
- ^ "MCGILL, JAMES", article in Dictionary of Canadian Biography
- ^ "STRACHAN, JOHN", article in Dictionary of Canadian Biography
- ^ Frederick Vaughan (2003). The Canadian Federalist Experiment: From Defiant Monarchy to Reluctant Republic. McGill-Queens. pp. 99–100.
- ^ J. L. Granatstein (2011). Canada's Army: Waging War and Keeping the Peace. U. of Toronto Press. pp. 4–5.
- ^ Pierre Berton (2011). Flames Across the Border: 1813–1814. Random House Digital, Inc. pp. 29–30.
- ^ James Tyler Robertson, "The 'Children of Nature' and 'Our Province': The Rev. John Strachan's Views on the Indigenous People and the Motives Behind the American Invasion of Upper Canada, 1812-1814," Ontario History (2012) 104#1 pp 53-70.
- ^ Oliver R. Osmond, "The Churchmanship of John Strachan," Journal of the Canadian Church Historical Society, (1974) 16#3 pp 46-59.
- ^ J. D. Purdy, "John Strachan and the Diocesan Theological Institute at Cobourg, 1842-1852," Ontario History (1973) 65#2 pp 113-123
Further reading
- Boorman, Sylvia. John Toronto: a biography of Bishop Strachan (Toronto and Vancouver, 1969).
- Christie, N. "In these times of democratic rage and delusion", in The Canadian protestant experience, 1760–1990, ed. G. A. Rawlyk (1991)
- Craig, G. M. "STRACHAN, JOHN," in Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online (2000)
- Flint, David. John Strachan, pastor and politician (Toronto, 1971).
- Gauvreau, Michael. "Strachan, John (1778–1867)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 13 Sept 2013
- Henderson, J.L. John Strachan, 1778–1867 (Québec, Presses de l'Université Laval, 1970), in English
- Robertson, Thomas B., The Fighting Bishop: John Strachan, the First Bishop of Toronto, and Other Essays in His Times (Ottawa: Graphic Publishers, 1926).
Contemporary sources
- Bethune, Alexander Neil. (1870). Memoir of the Right Reverend John Strachan, D.D., LL.D., First Bishop of Toronto. Toronto: Henry Rowsell.
- MacDonald, William Peter. (1834). Remarks on Doctor Strachan's Pamphlet against the Catholic Doctrine of the Real Presence of Christ's Body and Blood in the Eucharist; Addressed by him to his Congregation of St. James' Church, in York, Upper Canada, and Occasioned by the Honorable John Elmsley's Publication of the Bishop of Strasbourg's Observations on the Sixth Chapter of St. John's Gospel. Kingston: James MacFarlane and Company.
- Melville, Henry. (1852). The Rise and Progress of Trinity College, Toronto; with a Sketch of the Life of the Lord Bishop of Toronto as Connected with Church Education in Canada. Toronto: Henry Roswell.
- Patton, Henry. (1868). A Sermon, on the Life, Labours, and Character, of the Late Honourable and Right-Reverend John Strachan D.D., LLD., Lord Bishop of Toronto, and in Connection with the Bishop Strachan Memorial Church, Cornwall. Montreal: John Lovell.
- Strachan, John. (1827). Remarks on Emigration from the United Kingdom. London: John Murray.
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- Documents by Strachan from Project Canterbury
- A Sermon Preached at Lambeth Palace, on Sunday, August 4, 1839, before the Most Rev. His Grace the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury, the Right Rev. the Lord Bishops of London, Chichester, and Nova-Scotia at the Consecration of the Lord of Bishop of Newfoundland, and the Lord Bishop of Toronto and Published by the Command of His Grace the Lord Archbishop, by Edward Scobell (London: J. Hatchard, 1839)
- Poetry by Strachan
- Bishop Strachan School