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ARTHY, EDWARD WESTHEAD, educator, educational administrator, and author; b. c. 1853 in England, eldest son of William Robert Bridge Arthy; m. Sara Morris; fl. 1871–1914.

The son of a clergyman in Macclesfield, England, Edward Westhead Arthy was matriculated at Queen’s College, University of Oxford, on 3 Nov. 1871 at age 18, but did not complete his studies there. The date of his arrival in Canada is unknown; in 1873, however, he was a student at the University of Toronto. His professional career began two years later in Montreal, when he was appointed headmaster of the Royal Arthur School. Around 1876 he became headmaster of the Preparatory High School, an elementary school connected to the High School of Montreal which prepared students for secondary school. Arthy’s appointment as secretary-superintendent of the Protestant Board of School Commissioners of the City of Montreal came on the eve of the 1883–84 school year, when the incumbent, Sampson Paul Robins, resigned to accept the principalship of McGill Normal School, the province’s only Protestant teacher-training facility. Arthy’s tenure as secretary-superintendent, from 1883 to his resignation in 1908, was a long and, by all indications, successful one. During this period he was also active in the leading Protestant educational bodies in the province, serving on the Protestant Central Board of Examiners, which certified teachers for the Protestant schools, and on various committees of the Provincial Association of Protestant Teachers. As a member of the governing body of the High School of Montreal for many years, he continued to be closely associated with that institution. In addition, he wrote a number of arithmetic manuals which were used in schools until 1932.

The post of secretary-superintendent was a demanding one, since it required its holder to wear two hats. As secretary, Arthy kept the minutes of the board’s meetings and answered its correspondence. In the role of superintendent, he more nearly resembled the chief school officer of today. He was responsible for the general supervision of the city’s Protestant schools, a task that, among other duties, meant regular visits to them all and the submission of monthly reports on their educational and material condition.

As chief officer of Montreal’s Protestant schools around the turn of the century, Arthy oversaw a educational network that looked to English-speaking Canada and Britain for identification and inspiration. Accordingly, Empire Day and other dates calling attention to the glory and development of the British empire were celebrated regularly. The school system that Arthy left in 1908, however, bore only partial resemblance to the one to which he had been appointed 25 years earlier. In 1883 approximately 4,500 children attended the city’s Protestant schools; by 1908 enrolment had almost tripled to 12,000, spread among 15 elementary and 3 secondary schools. But a more significant development was the changing face of the school population. What had heretofore been an almost exclusively English Protestant population was now an ethnic and religious mix, thanks to a wave of Jewish immigrants. When Arthy first became superintendent, Jewish children represented less than four per cent of enrolments in the Protestant schools. On his retirement they accounted for an astounding 37 per cent, their numbers peaking at 44 per cent in 1916.

The influx of Jews into the Protestant schools unleashed a host of educational and legal problems that were only partly settled during Arthy’s tenure. The province’s system of public education, which was divided officially along denominational (Roman Catholic and Protestant) lines, had not been created with non-Christians in mind. The system had been established well before confederation on the assumption that every schoolchild was French Catholic or English Protestant. From the start, Jewish immigrants to Montreal opted to send their children to Protestant rather than Catholic schools. Protestant schools were considered less sectarian and taught in English.

The status of Jews in the Protestant schools was a continuing source of conflict during Arthy’s superintendency. Protestant school officials frequently complained that revenue from Jewish school taxes did not match the costs of educating the Jewish population. For their part, Jewish community leaders accused the Protestant schools of failing to respect their religious and cultural traditions. A partial solution was reached in 1903 with the passage of a provincial law which recognized Jews as Protestants for educational purposes. Both Protestant and Jewish leaders praised the legislation. Yet, a few years later, on the eve of Arthy’s resignation, a new conflict broke out. Jewish representatives insisted that as “Protestants” they were eligible for membership on the Protestant Board of School Commissioners of the City of Montreal. School board officials disagreed, arguing that membership on the board was not included in the act of 1903; they also maintained that Jewish representation on the board would contravene section 93 of the British North America Act of 1867, which protected the educational rights of Catholics and Protestants.

In early 1908 Arthy resigned as secretary-superintendent for reasons of ill health. His decision was not unexpected since he had been on paid sick-leave since 1906. Herbert Joseph Silver, who had been acting superintendent during his absence, succeeded him.

Judging by the comments of well-wishers following his retirement, Arthy was both liked and respected by his employer and professional colleagues. The Protestant school board praised “his personal qualities, his power of comprehensive mental grasp, his scholarly attainments, and administrative ability.” A Protestant school inspector, John W. McOuat, said that Arthy’s “courtesy and kindness toward all made him an ideal superintendent, whom we all appreciate very much.”

According to the minutes of a meeting on 27 May 1910 of the Protestant committee of the Council of Public Instruction, Arthy was replaced on the Protestant Central Board of Examiners because he had “left the province.” Pension records show him residing in Vancouver from 1911 to 1914. He apparently died around 1914 since his pension is listed in his wife’s name the following year.

Roger Magnuson