George MacKinnon Wrong (June 25, 1860 – June 29, 1948) was a Canadian clergyman and historian.

Life and career

Born at Grovesend in

Elgin County Elgin County ( ) is a county composed of seven municipalities in Ontario, Canada with a 2021 population of 51,912. Its population centres are Aylmer, Port Stanley, Belmont, Dutton and West Lorne. The county seat is St. Thomas, which is separated ...

Canada West The Province of Canada (or the United Province of Canada or the United Canadas) was a British colony in British North America from 1841 to 1867. Its formation reflected recommendations made by John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham, in the Report ...

(now

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

), he was ordained in the

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

priesthood in 1883 after attending

Wycliffe College Wycliffe College () is an evangelical Colleges of the University of Toronto, graduate school of theology of the University of Toronto located at the University of Toronto#St. George campus, St. George campus in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Founded i ...

. In 1894, as successor to Sir Daniel Wilson, he was appointed professor and head of the Department of History at the

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

from which he retired in 1927. He was elected a fellow of the

Royal Society of Canada The Royal Society of Canada (RSC; , SRC), also known as the Academies of Arts, Humanities, and Sciences of Canada (French: ''Académies des arts, des lettres et des sciences du Canada''), is the senior national, bilingual council of distinguishe ...

in 1908 and received an honorary LLD from

McGill University McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...

in 1919 and the University of Toronto in 1941. Wrong died in Toronto, Ontario on June 29, 1948. A believer in the historian's moral duty to interpret the past for society's present needs, Wrong viewed Canadian history in terms of the country's British and French origins and the American presence. As a teacher, administrator, writer, and a moving force in the early days of the

Canadian Historical Association The Canadian Historical Association (CHA; , SHC) is a Canadian organization founded in 1922 for the purposes of promoting historical research and scholarship. It is a bilingual, not-for-profit, charitable organization, the largest of its kind in ...

, he helped to provide an intellectual base for a developing Canadian nationality. In 1896-97 he founded the Review of Historical Publications Relating to Canada (since 1920 the Canadian Historical Review) and in 1905 he co-founded the Champlain Society. He wrote numerous monographs and texts on Canadian history, the best being A Canadian Manor and Its Seigneurs (1908). Formal in habit and something of an anglophile in taste, Wrong influenced a generation of students. He received the

's J. B. Tyrrell Historical Medal in 1929. Wrong's eldest son Murray was a long-time friend of

Vincent Massey Charles Vincent Massey (February 20, 1887December 30, 1967) was a Canadian diplomat and statesman who served as the 18th governor general of Canada from 1952 to 1959. Massey was the first governor general of Canada who was born in Canada. Mas ...

. He "assumed his ecclesiastical robes" in 1915 to assist in Massey's marriage to Alice Parkin. Wrong owned a property near

Canton, Ontario Canton is a hamlet in southeastern Ontario, a few kilometers (a few miles) north of Port Hope. It has a small wooden chapel built in 1832, one of the oldest in the region. Canton was once the home of Vincent Massey, the lawyer, diplomat and Gover ...

. Massey bought the adjacent property in 1918 and converted it into his principal residence, Batterwood House, in 1927.

Personal life

In 1886, Wrong married Sophia Hume Blake, the daughter of

Edward Blake Dominick Edward Blake (13 October 1833 – 1 March 1912) was a Canadian politician and lawyer who was the second premier of Ontario from 1871 to 1872 and leader of the Liberal Party of Canada from 1880 to 1887. He is one of three federal perm ...

, Premier of Ontario (1871 to 1872) and leader of the Liberal Party of Canada (1880 to 1887). They had five children: * Margaret Christian Wrong (1887–1948); educator * Edward Murray Wrong (1889–1928); historian and Oxford academic * Harold Verschoyle Wrong (1891–1916);

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

officer, killed in action in the

Battle of the Somme The Battle of the Somme (; ), also known as the Somme offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and the French Third Republic against the German Empire. It took place between 1 July and 18 Nove ...

during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

* Humphrey Hume Wrong (1894–1954); diplomat * Agnes Honoria Wrong (1903-1995) The historian Rosalind Mitchison and the physician Oliver Wrong were both grandchildren by Edward Murray Wrong. The sociologist Dennis Wrong was his grandson by Humphrey Hume Wrong. All of the Wrong children and their father were graduates of the

Selected works

* ''The Conquest of New France'' (1910) * ''The Fall of Canada'' (1914) * ''The United States and Canada: A Political Study'' (1921) * ''The Rise and Fall of New France'' (1928) * ''Britain's History'' (1929) * ''Canada and the American Revolution: The Disruption of the First British Empire'' (1935)

References

External links

* * * *
Canadian Encyclopedia biography

George M. Wrong Family fonds

MacKinnon-Wrong Family fonds
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wrong, George 1860 births 1948 deaths 20th-century Canadian Anglican priests 20th-century Canadian historians Canadian male non-fiction writers Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada) Academic staff of the University of Toronto Presidents of the Canadian Historical Association 19th-century Canadian Anglican priests

Life and career

Personal life

Selected works

References

Further reading

External links