Author L. M. Montgomery described her time at Charlottetown’s Prince of Wales College as “the happiest year of my life.”
Cornell University President Jacob Gould Schurman, in speaking about
Principal Alexander Anderson, said, "Calmly reflecting on the matter, I
believe there is none to whom, all considered, I personally owe so much
as to him." Sir Andrew Macphail, author and professor of medicine at
McGill, similarly remembered Anderson thus: “Of the many teachers I have
known, he was the best.”
As Prince Edward Island's only provincial non-sectarian college, which educated thousands of Islanders in the century spanning 1860 to 1969, Prince of Wales College engendered these kinds of passions in its students. Even today, nearly a half-century years after its abolition, alumni recall it with a fierce loyalty and devotion that comes from a deep sense of community and strong familial ties.
And with exceedingly high standards, it was not easy to get in. Despite the dismal state of education in the public schools at that time, Prince of Wales maintained high academic standards from the beginning, thanks largely to a succession of gifted, eminently qualified principals. Indeed, the schools entrance exams struck fear into the hearts of many prospective students, with good reason: the exam failure rate was often 30 to 40 per cent. It is no wonder, then, that PWC alumni went on to become award-winning graduate students and teachers, writers and doctors and scientists, lawyers and judges, and university professors, deans, and presidents.
As Island historian and PWC graduate Ian Ross Robertson says, “It was commonly said and believed that if one could do well at PWC, one could do well anywhere else one might go, and I and my peers found this to be so, as did generations before us.”
As author Marian Bruce demonstrates with her natural gift for telling a good story, religion, politics, tradition, and the powerful force of blood ties played a large role in the birth, life, and death of the College, from its beginning as the Central Academy to its conclusion with the formation of the University of Prince Edward Island. The book showcases many of the fascinating professors who taught at PWC, and the experiences of many of its alumni. Incorporating interviews of alumni, faculty, and staff, as well as drawing upon extensive archival material, Marian has captured the essence of not just a school, but of a piece of educational history that spans generations.
“In her telling of the highly regarded worth of Prince of Wales College, Marian Bruce remains focused on the human dimension of a College experience which has profoundly affected generations of Island youth.” --from the Foreword by Harry Love and Lawson Drake
Marian Bruce, herself a PWC alumna, was born on a farm in Prince Edward Island, and has worked as a writer and editor on magazines and newspapers in cities across Canada. She has written, edited, and/or collaborated on a number of books, including Pets, Professors, and Politicians: The Founding and Early Years of the Atlantic Veterinary College (Island Studies Press, 2005), Working Together: Two Centuries of Co-operation in Prince Edward Island (Island Studies Press, 2004), and Making it Home: Memoirs of J. Angus MacLean (Ragweed Press, 1999). She lives in High Bank.
ISBN 0-919013-45-7 / 316 pp / hard cover / 16-page signature of b/w photos / appendices / index / $29.95
Institute of Island Studies