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the distinguished subject of this sketch, was
born at West Flamboro', Ontario, on August 11th, 1838. He was the third
son of the Right Rev. Alexander Neil Bethune, second Bishop of Toronto,
and Jane Eliza, eldest daughter of the late Hon. James Crooks. The Bethune
family trace its lineage very far back in Scottish and French historical
records. The first of the name came to Scotland in the reign of Malcolm
the Third, a contemporary of William the Conqueror, in the eleventh
century. Many men famous in Scotch history belonged to the family, among
whom may be mentioned Cardinal Beaton (the name is frequently spelled and
pronounced in this way), one of Mary Queen of Scots "Four Marys,"
the Archbishop Bethune, chaplain to a Highland regiment, who settled with
his comrades in the County of Glengarry, Ontario, towards the end of the
last century. He was father of the late Bishop of Toronto and Dean Bethune
of Montreal, and grandfather of the subject of our sketch. Young Bethune
was educated at private schools at Cobourg and Upper Canada College. After
leaving the latter instituation he entered Trinity College, Toronto, and
graduated B.A. therefrom in 1859 with first class classical honours. He
took his M.A. in 1861 and received the honorary degree of D.C.L. from his
Alma mater in 1883, in recognition of his zealous and worthy services at
Trinity College School. He was ordained deacon in 1861 and priest in 1862,
by the late Bishop Strachan of Toronto. He was curate until 1866 with his
father, then Rector of Cobourg, with the exception of a short period spent
in England in 1863-4, when he was curate at Carlton, Near Selby, in
Yorkshire. In 1866 he was appointed to the charge of the Credit Mission,
in the County of Peel, Ontario: and since September, 1870, has been Head
Master of Trinity College School at Port Hope. From a very small beginning
he has raised up this school to be one of the widest known and most
successful in the Dominion. He has now a staff of eight assistant masters,
about 140 pupils, and large and handsome buildings with extensive play
grounds. Our subject has given much of his attention to scientific
pursuits, and he is well known in the United States and Great Britain, as
likewise in Canada, as an entomologist. He was one of the founders of the
Entomological Society of Canada and its secretary-treasurer for seven
years. He was president of the same Society from 1870 to 1875, and has
continued since to be a member of its Council. He was entomological editor
of the Canada Farmer for nine years, and editor of the Canadian
Entomologist from its inception in 1868 to 1873. He was written a large
number of papers on Practical and Scientific Entomology in these and other
publications, and contributed repeatedly to the Annual Report on Insects
presented to the Legislature of Ontario. He is a fellow of the American
Association for the advancement of science and has attended its meetings
at various places in the United States; is a member of several Canadian
scientific societies and a corresponding member of scientific societies in
New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Buffalo, Davenport, Brooklyn, Halifax, and
other places. He is also a member of the Corporation of the University of
Trinity College, Toronto, and of the council of the Bishop Strachan School
for Young Ladies, in Toronto. He was Honorary Clerical Secretary of the
Synod of the Diocese of Tornonto from 1869 to 1871, and has been
repeatedly elected a representative of the diocese at the meeting of the
Provincial Synod in Montreal. He has frequently visited England and
travelled in the United States; he has also visited Paris, and has seen a
good deal of Scotland and Ireland. Our subject has always been a member of
the Church of England and associated with the "High Church"
school of thought. He married on April 21st, 1863, Alice, second daughter
of Lieut=Colonel Forlong, K.H., of Toronto, late of Her Majesty's 43rd
Regiment of Light Infantry, and his wife Sophia, daughter of the Hon.
Henry John Boulton, of Holland House, Toronto. Colonel Forlong, when a
young man, took part in the battle of Waterloo, and was wounded during the
engagement. He carried the bullet, which could not be extracted, all the
rest of his life. He died at Gore Vale, Toronto, in 1859. Dr Bethune has
five children living. An earnest and able worker for his church, a learned
and deeply-skilled votary in a wide and important branch of science, and
at the same time the able administrator of a denominational school made,
by his own exertions, the most important among junior institutions in
Canada. It has been given to few men whose names are written in this
volume to accomplish so much and to accomplish it so well. |
