MCALPINE, EDWIN H. (1851-1921)

MCALPINE, EDWIN H., principal of the Chatham Grammar School, 1873-76; b. Cambridge, N.B., 30 Mar 1851, s/o Charles McAlpine and Matilda Jane Cameron; m. 1876, Clothilda Farris (a d/o John Farris, MP for Queens Co., N.B.); d. Saint John, 1 Aug 1921.

Edwin H. McAlpine was educated at the Fredericton Collegiate School and the University of New Brunswick (BA 1869, MA 1873). He had a total of three years experience as a teacher in Saint John and as principal of the schools at Gagetown and Campbellton before being appointed principal in Chatham in the fall of 1873, at age twenty-two. The school of which he was head was the County Grammar School, but before he took up his dutues, this school was moved into the Presbyterian Academy building. The two schools were merged, in effect, at this time, although they were not combined officially until 1874. The merged institution was known as the Chatham Grammar School, but it was also the public high school of Chatham from that time onward, under the Common Schools Act.

After three years in Chatham, McAlpine resigned to study law in Saint John. He was admitted as an attorney in 1877 and barrister in 1879. He was an outstanding member of the legal profession who handled important cases and was St John County agent for the federal minister of justice. He played a part in Liberal party politics and was a persuasive and entertaining speaker. He and his wife, Clothilda Ferris, had two children who died in infancy. He did not remarry after his wife also died in 1881, at age twenty-nine.