1963 Fredericton Encaenia
Hicks, Henry Davies
Doctor of Civil Law (D.C.L.)
Orator: Cattley, Robert E.D.
Image
Image Caption
L to R: Colin B. Mackay, Henry Davies Hicks, C.L. Mahan
Second Image Caption
Source: UA PC-4 no.11e; Photo by Harvey Studios
Citation:
ENCAENIA, MAY, 1963
HENRY DAVIES HICKS
to be Doctor of Civil Law
The President-elect of Dalhousie University is a well-rounded personality. Bisecting what in geometry jargon would be his "given" and in mine his "God-given" circumference, I shall treat first what in both might be defined as his professional arc.
A Bluenose, he comes of pre-Loyalist Quaker stock. Precocious young scholar, he went through Bridgetown Public School to Mount Allison University, taking 1st class Honours in Chemistry; to Dalhousie for a B.Sc., and to Oxford for Law and an M.A. The war intervened and he saw service in six countries. On his discharge he started a practice, while representing Annapolis County in the Provincial legislation. The flood of the political tide raised him to Premier, the ebb dropped him to Leader of the Opposition. In 1960 he became Dean of Arts and Science at Dalhousie and in 1961 Vice-President.
Coincident in time but more kaleidoscopic is his recreational arc. At Mount Allison he was a be-medalled quarter-miler. At Oxford he played hockey, took up mountaineering and, as wartime and only Canadian President of the Boat Club, coxed the Oxford crew. And Oxford doubtless deepened his love of rare books.
There now enters the picture his wife, a charming fellow Nova Scotian. Spouse, mother, and angel, she has had in one husband to humour a stamp collector, who tactlessly put the price of a fur coat into a block of four Bermuda shilling; a naturalist who bred prize fish beneath the kitchen counter; whose hair she has had to cut and whose clothes -- except on formal occasions, like these -- she has had to tolerate; who, though at one phase sweetening her with honey from bees in his hives and not, as might be expected, in his bonnet, and coaxing her at another with salmon caught on rods of his own making, takes snuff -- because, forsooth from a royal snuff-box -- and insists on snails for Christmas dinner; who has with exquisite craftsmanship panelled three rooms in their home, but whose secret amour is two autographed first editions of Oscar Wilde.
Lucky those students who catch the spirit and possess a tithe of the vitality of their protean president! They should prove challenging competitors and exciting Canadians.
From:
Cattley, Robert E.D. Honoris causa: the effervescences of a university orator. Fredericton: UNB Associated Alumnae, 1968.
HENRY DAVIES HICKS
to be Doctor of Civil Law
The President-elect of Dalhousie University is a well-rounded personality. Bisecting what in geometry jargon would be his "given" and in mine his "God-given" circumference, I shall treat first what in both might be defined as his professional arc.
A Bluenose, he comes of pre-Loyalist Quaker stock. Precocious young scholar, he went through Bridgetown Public School to Mount Allison University, taking 1st class Honours in Chemistry; to Dalhousie for a B.Sc., and to Oxford for Law and an M.A. The war intervened and he saw service in six countries. On his discharge he started a practice, while representing Annapolis County in the Provincial legislation. The flood of the political tide raised him to Premier, the ebb dropped him to Leader of the Opposition. In 1960 he became Dean of Arts and Science at Dalhousie and in 1961 Vice-President.
Coincident in time but more kaleidoscopic is his recreational arc. At Mount Allison he was a be-medalled quarter-miler. At Oxford he played hockey, took up mountaineering and, as wartime and only Canadian President of the Boat Club, coxed the Oxford crew. And Oxford doubtless deepened his love of rare books.
There now enters the picture his wife, a charming fellow Nova Scotian. Spouse, mother, and angel, she has had in one husband to humour a stamp collector, who tactlessly put the price of a fur coat into a block of four Bermuda shilling; a naturalist who bred prize fish beneath the kitchen counter; whose hair she has had to cut and whose clothes -- except on formal occasions, like these -- she has had to tolerate; who, though at one phase sweetening her with honey from bees in his hives and not, as might be expected, in his bonnet, and coaxing her at another with salmon caught on rods of his own making, takes snuff -- because, forsooth from a royal snuff-box -- and insists on snails for Christmas dinner; who has with exquisite craftsmanship panelled three rooms in their home, but whose secret amour is two autographed first editions of Oscar Wilde.
Lucky those students who catch the spirit and possess a tithe of the vitality of their protean president! They should prove challenging competitors and exciting Canadians.
From:
Cattley, Robert E.D. Honoris causa: the effervescences of a university orator. Fredericton: UNB Associated Alumnae, 1968.
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