MONTREAL/October 19, 2004—
Net proceeds to fund scholarships in Canadian Irish Studies
Montreal / October 19 2004- On Wednesday, October 20 at 6 p.m., Concordia University's Centre for Canadian Irish Studies will celebrate the launch of Sir William Hingston (1829-1907), Montreal mayor, surgeon and banker, by Montreal writer Alan Hustak. The event will take place at MarchÈ Bonsecours (Salle de la Commune), 325 de la Commune, in the presence of numerous dignitaries including the Right Honourable Paul Martin, Prime Minister of Canada, Montreal Mayor GÈrald Tremblay, the Right Honourable Brian Mulroney, former Prime Minister of Canada, and former Quebec Premier Daniel Johnson.
The Chair of the Canadian Irish Studies Foundation, Brian O'Neill Gallery, a great-grandson of Sir Hingston, commissioned this biography with the understanding that net proceeds from the sales will fund the Sir William Hingston Scholarship in Canadian Irish Studies at Concordia.
There are strong links between Concordia and the Montreal's Irish community in general and with the Hingston family in particular.
William Hingston, S.J. (1877-1964)
William Hingston, S.J. was Rector of Loyola College, one of our founding institutions, from July 1, 1918 to July 31, 1925. Father Hingston was the son of Sir William Hales Hingston, the subject of the newly published biography.
During Father Hingston's term as Rector (1918-25) he brought Loyola College into the modern era, gradually but radically changing the academic program, moving it away from the collËge classique tradition in which it had begun. He directed Loyola's first fund raising campaign, founded the Loyola Canadian Officer Training Corps (COTC), built the first stadium, enlarged the Administration Building, taught and directed the Loyola School of Sociology and Social Work, and from 1928-34 was Provincial of the English Canadian Jesuits.
Hingston Hall, the residence on the Loyola Campus which bears his name, was officially opened on April 18, 1964 as a men's residence built to accommodate 308 male students. It was the second building project in the 1960s development plan for the campus.
Thomas D'Arcy McGee lintel stones
The generosity of the Hingston family has been expressed in many different ways. Brian O'Neill Gallery and the St. Patrick's Society of Montreal have both contributed generously to a project to restore lintel stones from the Montreal home of Thomas D'Arcy McGee, which was given to him in 1864 by a number of his constituents and where he lived there with his family until his death.
The building was destroyed by fire in November 1962, but the stones were recovered and
donated to Loyola College. They were mounted into a cement frame and placed on the front lawn of the Georges P. Vanier Library. By the year 2000, the lintel stones were in poor condition, ravaged by time and the elements. One of the stones (the stone which was facing west) had deteriorated badly and was in imminent danger of losing the beautiful shamrock carvings, due to erosion.
In the fall of 2000, with the support of Brian O'Neill Gallery and the St. Patrick's Society of Montreal, the Concordia University Archives contracted with a respected stone conservator, Trevor Gillingwater, for the stabilization of the lintel stones. The D'Arcy McGee lintel stones will be placed in Concordia's new Engineering and Computer Science and Visual Arts Integrated Complex.
Hingston Family Materials in the Concordia Archives
The Hingston family materials have also found a home at Concordia, when Brian O'Neill Gallery donated them to the Concordia University Archives in 1998.
A general description and the detailed finding aid for these materials (in PDF and html) on the Archives web site at: http://archives3.concordia.ca/Privatefonds/P134.html
In addition to its own institutional holdings, the Concordia Archives has acquired Montreal Irish materials in support of the Canadian Irish Studies academic program.
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