Winthrop Pickard Bell (May 12, 1884 – April 4, 1965) was a

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academic An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, ...

who taught philosophy at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 ...

and Harvard. He is however perhaps best known for his work as a historian of

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Biography

He was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia and educated at Mount Allison University,

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

(where he studied under

Josiah Royce Josiah Royce (; November 20, 1855 – September 14, 1916) was an American objective idealist philosopher and the founder of American idealism. His philosophical ideas included his version of personalism, defense of absolutism, idealism and his ...

, about whose theory of knowledge he was later to write his doctoral dissertation), the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 Decemb ...

, and finally at the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen, (german: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, known informally as Georgia Augusta) is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded ...

(where he completed his doctoral studies under

Edmund Husserl , thesis1_title = Beiträge zur Variationsrechnung (Contributions to the Calculus of Variations) , thesis1_url = https://fedora.phaidra.univie.ac.at/fedora/get/o:58535/bdef:Book/view , thesis1_year = 1883 , thesis2_title ...

Edith Stein Edith Stein (religious name Saint Teresia Benedicta a Cruce ; also known as Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross or Saint Edith Stein; 12 October 1891 – 9 August 1942) was a German Jewish philosopher who converted to Christianity and became a ...

was among his friends during his Göttingen period. During the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

he was held in the civilian internment camp at Ruhleben, near

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

, for more than three years. After the war he taught philosophy at the

and at

, which he left in 1927 to pursue a career in business. In his latter years he focused his energies on historical research, much of which concerned the group of mid-18th-Century immigrants to Nova Scotia known as the " Foreign Protestants". His most notable publication was ''The "Foreign Protestants" and the Settlement of Nova Scotia'', which was published by the

University of Toronto Press The University of Toronto Press is a Canadian university press founded in 1901. Although it was founded in 1901, the press did not actually publish any books until 1911. The press originally printed only examination books and the university cale ...

in 1961; his ''Register of the Foreign Protestants of Nova Scotia'' was published some years after his death.

References

External links

Mount Allison University Archives Website Concerning Winthrop Pickard Bell

Mount Allison University Archives: Winthrop Pickard Bell fonds

Nova Scotia Archives: Winthrop Pickard Bell Fonds

The Foreign Protestants

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bell, Winthrop Pickard Mount Allison University alumni Harvard University alumni University of Göttingen alumni World War I civilian detainees held by Germany University of Toronto faculty Harvard University faculty 1884 births 1965 deaths McGill University alumni