Henry Scadding (July 29, 1813, to May 6, 1901) was an Anglican clergyman and teacher in Toronto who wrote Toronto of Old, a collection of recollections about early York published as a book in 1873. He was rector of the Church of the Holy Trinity from 1847 to 1875 and a leading figure in the Canadian Institute.
Scadding is among the best-known amateur historians of the city. He also belonged to a family that arrived with the first lieutenant governor of Upper Canada, which gave him direct access to the oldest memories of the settlement. This biography covers his schooling, his church career, his writing, and the house in which he spent his last decades.
Life in brief
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | July 29, 1813, Dunkeswell parish, England |
| Died | May 6, 1901, Toronto |
| Role | Anglican priest, schoolmaster, editor, and historian |
| Toronto connection | First pupil at Upper Canada College; rector of Holy Trinity 1847 to 1875; author of Toronto of Old; lived at Scadding House, 6 Trinity Square |
| Spouse | Harriet Eugenia Baldwin, married August 14, 1841; she died in 1843 |
Dates and family details come from the Dictionary of Canadian Biography.
A family tied to Simcoe
Henry was the youngest son of John Scadding and Melicent Triggs. His father had come to Upper Canada with John Graves Simcoe in 1792 and worked as a government clerk. He returned to England in 1796 to manage Simcoe’s estate, came back to Upper Canada in 1818, and settled near York in 1821. John Scadding died in 1824. The governor’s story is told in the article on John Graves Simcoe.
Schooling and the Strachan link
In 1822 Henry entered the Home District School under John Strachan, and after his father’s death he became Strachan’s protege. In 1830 he was the first pupil enrolled at Upper Canada College in York. In 1833, through Elizabeth Simcoe, the widow of the governor, he went to St. John’s College, Cambridge, and graduated in 1837. A profile of the teacher is in the article on John Strachan, and Mrs. Simcoe has an article of her own at Elizabeth Simcoe.
Ordination
The sources give two versions of his ordination. The Dictionary of Canadian Biography says he was ordained deacon in Quebec on June 4, and priest on October 7, and that he tutored the sons of Sir John Colborne in Lower Canada for almost a year after his return to Canada in 1837. The passage as read gives the day and month of each ordination, and it does not name the bishop or the place of the priesthood ordination. The Ontario Heritage Trust plaque and the Canadian Encyclopedia place his ordination to the priesthood in 1838, and the plaque names St. James Church in Toronto. This page therefore states 1838 only as the Trust’s and the Encyclopedia’s date, and notes that the year in the Dictionary is not explicit.
Teaching and the church
He was appointed a classical master at Upper Canada College on September 5, 1838, and resigned in 1862. From 1840 he served as Strachan’s domestic chaplain. In June 1847 he became incumbent of the Church of the Holy Trinity in Toronto, a church founded with money from an English benefactor on the condition that its pews be free. The Dictionary of Canadian Biography describes it as distinctly high church. William Stewart Darling was named assistant minister in 1853.
After 1862 a speech impediment limited his preaching. He resigned from Holy Trinity in 1875 and was made a canon of St. James’ Cathedral. The church sits at Trinity Square, beside the shopping complex described in the article on the Eaton Centre and Toronto’s shopping districts.
The Canadian Institute and Toronto of Old
Scadding was a founding member of the Canadian Institute in 1849 and its president from 1870 to 1876. From about 1869 to 1886 he edited its Canadian Journal and then its Proceedings. His best-known work, Toronto of Old, ran in the Canadian Journal in installments from April 1869 to May 1873 and was published as a book. It was reprinted in 1878 and revised in 1879. In 1966 Frederick Henry Armstrong prepared an abridged edition, with a second edition in 1987.
Informal gatherings with early residents in 1869 coincided with the founding of the York Pioneer and Historical Society, and Scadding served as its president from 1880 to 1898. His other writings include “Memoirs of the four decades of York, Upper Canada” (1884), printed in Toronto: Past and Present with John Charles Dent, and an introduction to G. M. Adam’s Toronto Old and New (1891). He also wrote a chapter on the early masters for A History of Upper Canada College (1893). The Dictionary of Canadian Biography counts more than 70 further items.
A caution applies to Toronto of Old. Scadding’s own preface says the book grew out of a short article titled “Early Notices of Toronto” and was then expanded with local recollections and folklore at the urging of readers. It is a work of memory and conversation, so its details are best checked against land records and newspapers. The first edition (Toronto: Adam, Stevenson and Company, 1873) is digitized by Canadiana and available as a Project Gutenberg text. The article on the Toronto Reference Library describes the library system that holds his papers.
Honours and papers
Scadding received an MA from Cambridge in 1840, a DD from Cambridge in 1852, and a DD from Oxford in 1867. His diaries, sermons, notebooks, and correspondence are held by the Metropolitan Toronto Reference Library. Selections from his diary were published by his daughter, Henrietta Sullivan, in the Transactions of the Women’s Canadian Historical Society of Toronto, in number 6 (1906) and number 10 (1910).
Scadding House
The Ontario Heritage Trust plaque page says Scadding lived in a town house designed by William Hay from its completion in 1862 until his death in 1901. The Dictionary of Canadian Biography does not mention the house. The house stands at 6 Trinity Square, off Bay Street, behind the Eaton Centre. A provincial plaque was unveiled in 1977. For the larger picture of the period, see the overview of Toronto’s history.
Frequently asked questions
Who was Henry Scadding?
He was an Anglican priest, Upper Canada College master, and historian of Toronto who lived from 1813 to 1901. He is best known for Toronto of Old.
When was Toronto of Old published?
It appeared in installments in the Canadian Journal from April 1869 to May 1873, and the Ontario Heritage Trust dates the book to 1873. It was reprinted in 1878 and revised in 1879.
Was Scadding the first student at Upper Canada College?
The Dictionary of Canadian Biography says that in 1830 he was the first pupil enrolled at the college in York.
Where did Henry Scadding live?
He lived at what is now called Scadding House, at 6 Trinity Square, from its completion in 1862 until his death in 1901.
Last verified: October 2026
Sources
- Dictionary of Canadian Biography, “Scadding, Henry,” vol. 13
- Ontario Heritage Trust, provincial plaque “Reverend Henry Scadding” (Scadding House, 6 Trinity Square)
- The Canadian Encyclopedia, “Henry Scadding”
- Canadiana, Scadding, Toronto of Old (Toronto: Adam, Stevenson, 1873), digitized first edition
- Project Gutenberg, Toronto of Old, title page and preface (first edition, 1873)
Related reading
- John Strachan, teacher and bishop
- John Graves Simcoe, first lieutenant governor
- Elizabeth Simcoe and early York
- The Toronto Reference Library
- People of Toronto history
Cite this page
APA: History of Toronto. (2026, October 23). Henry Scadding: Clergyman and Author of Toronto of Old. https://historyoftoronto.ca/blog/henry-scadding
MLA: “Henry Scadding: Clergyman and Author of Toronto of Old.” History of Toronto, 23 Oct. 2026, https://historyoftoronto.ca/blog/henry-scadding. Accessed .
Chicago: History of Toronto. “Henry Scadding: Clergyman and Author of Toronto of Old.” Last modified October 23, 2026. https://historyoftoronto.ca/blog/henry-scadding.
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