John Forrest (Canadian clergyman)

Forrest was born in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia,^[1][2] on November 25, 1842.^[1] He was the son of Alexander Forrest,^[1][2] who had emigrated from Lanarkshire, Scotland, in 1832,^[2] and Barbara Ross McKenzie.^[1][2] He had two sisters, Isabella and Catherine.^[1]

Forrest was educated at the Presbyterian College in Truro, the Queen's University in Kingston,^[2] and the Free Church College in Halifax.^[1] He was ordained in the Presbyterian Church in 1866, and became a minister at St John's Church in Halifax.^[1][2]

In 1878, Forrest was invited to become the representative for the Presbyterian Church on the Board of Governors for Dalhousie University.^[1] As governor, Forrest advocated for a gymnasium to improve students' wellbeing; he personally subsidised its construction in the old brewery between 1882 and 1885. He supported the admission of female students when the question was considered by the Board of Governors in July 1881. Forrest encouraged the founding of the Dalhousie Athletic Club in 1884, and was its honorary president.^[3]

During the summer of 1879, while the university faced imminent closure,^[3][4][5] his brother-in-law through Catherine, the dime novel publisher George Munro, lived with Forrest at Forrest's residence in Brunswick Street. Explaining the university's financial situation,^[3] Munro promised to endow a chair in physics if Forrest could find a suitable appointment, beginning Munro's extensive philanthropic association with the university;^[1][3] the chair would be awarded to James Gordon MacGregor.^[3][5]

In October 1880, Munro promised to endow a second chair, in history and political economy, at a salary of $2,500,^[3] on the condition that it be awarded to Forrest. Forrest duly resigned his position at St John's Church,^[1][3] and was inaugurated as the George Munro Professor of History on March 15, 1881.^[3]

In 1885,^[1] Forrest succeeded James Ross as the third Principal of Dalhousie University upon Ross' retirement;^[1][3] Forrest preferred to use the term 'President'.^[3]

In autumn 1887, Forrest oversaw the university's relocation to what was then Halifax's western suburbs; it was previously in the city centre, at the site now occupied by Halifax City Hall.^[1] Forrest's administration opened new faculties, including the Halifax Medical College (1887) and the Maritime Dental College (1908). He opened a Faculty of Engineering in 1905, but it was ceded to the provincial government to found the Nova Scotia Technical College in 1907,^[1] which would merge into Dalhousie University in 1997.^[6] In 1910, the university purchased the 43 acres (170,000 m²) Studley Estate from the heirs of Robert Murray, which would become the Studley Campus. Forrest was receptive to the possibility of a merger with the University of King's College.^[1]

Forrest acted as the university's bursar and registrar, and personally collected students' fees.^[1] Students called him 'Lord John',^[1][3] and he was distinguished for his memory of faces and names, as memorialised in one student's poem:^[3]

Fine me again, Lord John, fine me again.
Please soak me for sups and swat me for ten.
But grasp my hand firmly, say it out loud:
“Of course I know you, you’re Donald MacLeod.”

Forrest retired as President of Dalhousie University in 1911, and was succeeded by Arthur Stanley Mackenzie.^[1]