Edward Hartley Dewart (1828 – 17 June 1903) was an Irish-born Canadian Methodist clergyman, author and editor. He became a leading figure in the Methodist church and the temperance movement. For several years he edited the official Methodist journal '' The Christian Guardian''. His poetry anthology ''Selections from Canadian Poets'' (1864) was the first anthology of Canadian poetry to be published.
Early years
Edward Hartley Dewart was born in
Stradone, County Cavan
Stradone () is a village located in County Cavan, Ireland. It is situated in the civil parish of Laragh (or Larah) six miles from Cavan, near the N3 road between Cavan and Virginia. Stradone is classified as a 'small village' in the Cavan Count ...
, Ireland in 1828, son of James Dewart and Margaret Hartley.
His family was of mixed Scottish and English origins, and were Anglicans.
He migrated to Upper Canada with his parents in 1834. They settled in
Dummer Township Dummer or Dümmer may refer to:
Places
* Dummer, Hampshire, a parish and village in Hampshire, England
* Dummer, New Hampshire, a town in Coös County, New Hampshire, United States
* Dummer, Saskatchewan, a hamlet in Caledonia No. 99 Rural Mu ...
, now part of Peterborough County, where they adopted the Methodist faith.
In 1847 Dewart went to Toronto to study at the Normal School (teachers' training college).
Dewart became a teacher in Dunnville, where he also taught at the Wesleyan Methodist Sunday school and spoke for the Sons of Temperance.
Dewart was invited by church officials to become a preacher, and after four years probation was ordained a minister of the Wesleyan Methodist Church in London, Ontario in June 1855.
His first post was in
Dundas, Ontario : ''For the county in eastern Ontario see Dundas County, Ontario. For the upper tier county, see United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry.''
Dundas is a community and town in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. It is nicknamed the ''Valley Town' ...
.
On 25 June 1856 he married Dorothy Matilda Hunt in Hamilton, Upper Canada.
They had three sons, of whom two survived childhood.
In the 1850s and 1860s Dewart preached on many different circuits.
Dewart also became widely known for his poems and essays on religious themes.
He urged readers to seek salvation, and warned of the dangers of unorthodox thought.
''Selections from Canadian Poets''
Dewart 's ''Selections from Canadian Poets'' was published in 1864, containing poems on devotional subjects or about the grandeur of the wilderness of Canada.
This was the first anthology of Canadian verse to be published, and had clearly stated nationalistic goals.
The book aimed to "rescue from oblivion some of the floating pieces of Canadian authorship worthy of preservation in a more permanent form."
In his introductory essay Dewart said "a national literature is an essential element in the formation of the national character. It is not merely the record of a country's mental progress: it is the expression of its intellectual life, the bond of national unity, and the guide of national energy." He lamented that although poets should be national heroes, in a young country like Canada "if a Milton or a Shakspere ... was to arise among us, it is far from certain that his merit would be recognised."
Dewart noted that mediocre poets should not be promoted simply because they were Canadian.
His selection of poets, in order of preference, began with Charles Sangster (1822–93), Alexander McLachlan (1817–96),
Charles Heavysege
Charles Heavysege (May 2, 1816 – July 14, 1876) was a Canadian poet and dramatist. He was one of the earliest poets to publish in Canada. He is known for his critically acclaimed play ''Saul''.Pamelia Sarah Vining (1826-97), Jennie E. Haight (1836-1916),
Isidore Gordon Ascher
Isidore Gordon Gottschalk Ascher (1835–1914) was a Scottish-Canadian novelist and poet. He was born in Glasgow in 1835, the eldest son of Isaac Gottschalk Ascher and brother to Jacob Ascher. His family moved to Canada in 1841, and Isidore rece ...
(1835-1914),
Rosanna Eleanor Leprohon
Rosanna Eleanor Leprohon (January 12, 1829 – September 20, 1879), born Rosanna Eleanor Mullins, was a Canadian writer and poet. She was "one of the first English-Canadian writers to depict French Canada in a way that earned the praise of, and r ...
Susanna Moodie
Susanna Moodie (born Strickland; 6 December 1803 – 8 April 1885) was an English-born Canadian author who wrote about her experiences as a settler in Canada, which was a British colony at the time.
Biography
Susanna Moodie was born in Bungay, ...
(1803-85), John F. McDonnell (1838–68), and Helen M. Johnson (1834–63). The poetry of many of these authors has since been forgotten.
Church leader
In 1869 Dewart was elected president of the Ontario branch of the
Dominion Alliance for the Total Suppression of the Liquor Traffic
The Dominion Alliance for the Total Suppression of the Liquor Traffic was an organization established in 1877 in Canada that lobbied for prohibition of alcohol. Membership was largely Protestant and Anglophone. The Dominion Alliance faced passive r ...
and was appointed editor of '' The Christian Guardian''.
He used the journal as a platform for expressing his strongly held opinions. In 1871 he was elected president of the Toronto conference of the Wesleyan Methodist church.
He campaigned for union of the different Methodist churches of Canada so they could reduce duplication of effort and better support missionary activity in the northwest.
He helped create the Methodist Church of Canada in 1874, and was involved in the lengthy negotiations for further union in the 1880s.
With some reluctance, Dewart accepted the position of general superintendent of the unified church.
Dewart supported federation of the Methodist Victoria College with the University of Toronto.
This would reduce costs, while expanding Methodist influence in the university.
Although generally conservative, he accepted the need for some change.
Thus he accepted that "evolution is one of God’s modes of working", a concept that applied in spiritual thought as well as natural science.
However, he continued to insist that the Bible was divinely inspired, and to reject attempts to adapt traditional beliefs to fit modern culture.
At the 1894 General Conference of the church he was removed from his position as editor of the ''Christian Guardian''.
Dewart ran for provincial election in 1898 as Liberal candidate for Toronto North, but was defeated by
George Frederick Marter
George Frederick Marter (6 June 1840 – 10 May 1907) was a politician in the Canadian province of Ontario. He led the Ontario Conservative Party from 1894 to 1896. Marter and Patrick Brown are the only permanent Ontario Conservative leaders wh ...
by a small margin.
He died in Toronto on 17 June 1903.
His son Herbert Hartley Dewart (1861–1924) was an Ontario lawyer and politician.