Scadding, Henry

Henry Scadding was a clergyman and book collector. He was born 29 July 1813 in Dunkeswell, England, the youngest son of John Scadding, who was the clerk to the first Lieutenant-Governor of Canada, John Graves Simcoe. The family relocated to York (Toronto) in 1821. Henry was educated at the Home District Grammar School under John Strachan and later became the first pupil enrolled at Upper Canada College. In 1833, he attended St. John’s College, Cambridge, and later returned to Canada and was ordained as a deacon on 4 June 1837. He was appointed as a classical master at Upper Canada College, and in 1847, he was appointed rector at the Church of the Holy Trinity in Toronto, he held this role until 1875, when he was appointed a canon of St. James’ Cathedral.

Scadding held a life-long interest in history, especially the history of Toronto. He published many pamphlets and books, including Toronto of Old: Collections and Recollections Illustrative of the early settlement and social life of the Capital of Ontario (1873). As well as Memoirs of Four Decades of York, Upper Canada (1884), History of the Old French Fort at Toronto (1887) and Shakespeare: the Seer, the Interpreter (1897). He was a founding member of the Canadian Institute in 1849, and edited its publications: Canadian Journal and Proceedings from 1869 to 1886. Scadding was also a founding member and first president of the York Pioneer and Historical Society, the same organization that relocated Scadding’s childhood log cabin to the grounds of the CNE in 1879. From 1862 until his death in 1901, he lived at No. 6, Trinity Square in Toronto, which is now named the Henry Scadding House.

Scadding died on 6 May 1901 in Toronto. He bequeathed his library to the University of Toronto.