In 1872, James Robert Inch, the third president of Mt. A, proposed a motion to the Board of Regents to admit women to the University. Three years later, the University made history by awarding a Bachelor’s degree to the first woman in the British Empire, Grace Annie Lockhart. My great uncle believed that “Women as students met with equal success with men.” This belief was based on his “long experience” as a teacher and administrator.
His long experience as a teacher began in 1850 at age 15. He was the youngest of nine children born to parents who immigrated from Ulster, Ireland to Saint John, New Brunswick in 1824. In his 1912 history of the Inch family, he wrote that his parents settled on 300 acres of wilderness in what was then called New Jerusalem (now Camp Gagetown), about 10 miles back from the Saint John River.
James Robert was born in 1835 in New Jerusalem and was educated in district schools and at the Gagetown Madras School. In September 1849 at age 14, he entered the New Brunswick Normal School in Saint John. He wrote in his journal about giving his first lesson: “I confess that when I mounted the stand, I felt pretty well alarmed. Before me were about 25 [student] teachers each with a pen and ready to take down any mistakes I should make. I was on the point of giving up, but the sense of disgrace it would be gave me fresh courage. I proceeded manfully.” In August of 1850, he obtained a First-Class Teaching License and began teaching in public schools.
Four years later he accepted a position as a teacher at Mount Allison Wesleyan Academy where he taught for 10 years, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree and becoming the vice-principal of the Ladies College in 1864. Three years later, he became principal of the Ladies College. The University awarded him a Master of Arts degree in 1869 and a Doctor of Laws in 1878. That same year, at age 40, he became the third president of Mt. A, taking the Chair of Logic and Philosophy.
During his 13-year presidency, enrollment grew and the endowment almost tripled. Centennial Memorial Hall, Owens Art Gallery, and the Conservatory of Music were built. At various times, he taught rhetoric, French, German, logic, English literature, and mental philosophy. One of his students described him as “a man of broad views, good scholarship and fine executive abilities”.
In 1891, James Robert left Mt. A to become the Chief Superintendent of Education for the Province of New Brunswick, relocating to Fredericton. Concurrent with that position was the role of President of the University of New Brunswick (UNB) Senate.
He remained faithful to Mt. A. According to a UNB history professor, UNB students went down to the Legislature and created “a disturbance […] in the Gallery of the House when the University’s affairs were being discussed. It resulted from [James Robert] allegedly having advised students go to Mt. A while he was chair of the Board of UNB.”
As superintendent, James Robert’s “wisdom and foresight showed quickly.” Among his proposals were that: grants be reduced for grammar schools that did not meet a minimum number of advanced pupils; school attendance be compulsory; examination regulations be set for grammar school leaving and university matriculation; and schools be consolidated and publicly funded transport provided. James Robert was ahead of his time — it was many years before his recommendations were implemented, given resistance by school districts and lack of action by the provincial government.
Due to failing health, James Robert retired in 1909, and returned to Sackville. He died in 1912 at age 77. One obituary described him as “a painstakingly, capable head of [Mt. A]. He was a cautious but not a timid leader. He was not afraid to move forward when necessary. And every step forward was made after due consideration.”
James Robert Inch had been continuously engaged in public education work for almost 60 years and left a legacy of progressive education in New Brunswick, and of women’s advancement in education. I am a product of that legacy, passed down by my father, Robert Boyer Inch (Class of 1924 and former director of alumni and public relations) who said to me when a Mt. A student, you “can be married and have a career too.”
