Howard Primrose Whidden ’1894

McMaster’s sixth chancellor was born in Nova Scotia. An arts graduate of Acadia University (1891) and a theology graduate of McMaster (1894), he pursued advanced work at the University of Chicago. In 1900 be joined the faculty of Brandon College a future affiliate of McMaster. He then left for a nine–year pastorate in Dayton, Ohio but returned to Brandon in 1912 to serve as the college president. He was elected to the House of Commons in 1917 and served the wartime Union Government until its defeat in 1921. In 1923, he succeeded A.L. McCrimmon as McMaster’s chancellor.

Whidden’s chancellorship was initially dominated by the orchestration of the University’s move to Hamilton, which depended heavily on crucial support from the city and the Baptist constituency. McMaster had barely settled on its new Westdale campus in 1930 when it was hit by the massive depression that haunted the country and the University’s finances for the better part of a decade. In spite of this, the University successfully transplanted itself under Whidden’s leadership and for the first time the Hamilton area was provided with accessible higher education. In recognition of his varied accomplishments, the Chancellor (dubbed the “Chan”) was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1934 and appointed to a two–year term as President of the National Conference of Canadian Universities in 1937. In 1941 he retired and was succeeded by George Peel Gilmour.