"The History of Engineering at the
University of New Brunswick"

by
A. Foster Baird
A. Foster Baird
Dean of Applied Science

... In a letter to the Chief Justice, written in 1852, Sir Edmund Head stressed that the College must offer something more than the old classical course, and asked the Chief Justice, as Chancellor of the college, to take the matter up with the Council of the college.  This was done, and a Committee was formed to study the matter and to report.  From this report I quote the following: “It has been suggested by His Excellency, and the Committee beg to concur in the suggestion, that more specific attention might be given Civil Engineering, that is to its leading principles, and that if assistance be required in drawing, it should be provided by the council.” ...

The letter of Sir Edmund Head in 1852 and the considerations of the College Council of King’s College (later U.N.B.) seem to have been acted upon, for we find under the date of April 2nd, 1853 the following College Statute:  –“That one hundred and fifty pounds per annum be appropriated to defray the expense of lectures and Practical Instruction to be given in Civil Engineering and Drawing, to such person or persons as his Excellency the Visitor may appoint for that purpose, who shall receive a fee of five shillings per term from every student attending such lectures; and the student shall be entitled to receive a certificate of proficiency he makes therein; if he deserve it.”

On December tenth of the same year, King’s College inserted the following advertisement in the press:

KING’S COLLEGE
CIVIL ENGINEERING, ETC.
A course of instruction in Civil Engineering will be given at King’s College by Mr. McMahon Cregan, who has been appointed to that duty by His Excellency the Visitor, and will commence on the fifteenth of February next, and continue until the end of April.  It will be open to students of the College on payment of a fee of ten shillings and to all others on payment of a fee of two pounds, for the Course.

Persons desirous of joining the class are requested to communicate with the Registrar:–The course will embrace with other subjects, the following syllabus: “An explanation of the construction and uses of Logarithms, Sines, tangents, etc., Trigonometrical Formulae; Resolution of Plane Triangles; methods of Surveying with Theodolite, Circumferenter, etc.  Construction, use and Adjustment of the Instruments used by the Engineers, both for field and office work; levelling: Method of determining best route for Railway, etc.; Computation of the quantities of land, earthwork, etc., required for the execution of the works; Horsepower of Machinery, etc.; Method of “setting out” Railway curves and side widths; Calculation of gradients and theory of inclined planes; Superelevation of rails; Composition and resolution of Forces; Calculation of strains and pressures; strength of materials; theory and practice of timber and iron framing viaducts, bridges, etc.

Three lectures a week will be given in the College; and instruction in the field will also be given once a week, or as often as may be expedient.

                                         CHARLES FISHER, Registrar


The instructor mentioned, Mr. Cregan, was an engineer brought from England to conduct a survey for the European and North American Railway.  This proposed railway was to connect Halifax with Portland via Saint John.

Twenty-six students enrolled for the course, a number of whom were students of the College taking the regular Arts Course.  The scheme evidently was for Dr. William Brydone Jack to teach the necessary background of mathematics during the autumn months, and then during the two and one half months of winter, during which time it was impossible for work on the Railway Survey to be done, Mr. Cregan gave his instruction.

The press of the day gave its approval when it said, “The gentleman who has been engaged to give instruction is, we believe, well qualified for the task; and under his guidance the young men of the country may be thoroughly trained for those occupations which the progress of railways will open up.”

Another item reports, “Mr. Cregan, who was engaged some time since to give a series of lectures on Civil Engineering in King’s College, delivered the introductory one on Wednesday last.  Of this lecture we have heard a most favourable report from those who were present at its delivery, who represent it as displaying a large amount of talent and practical information, skillfully conceived and well communicated.”

The accounts of this year record that Mr. Cregan was paid one hundred pounds for his course of lectures.

If we take this date of 1853 to be the year when the Faculty of Engineering was established and February 15th, of 1854 when the first lecture was given, then 1950 marks a span of ninety-six years during which Engineering has been taught at this University.

The aim of Civil Engineering students of those days seems to have been, entirely, to enter into the field of Railway Building.  This is not to be wondered at since it was the major engineering activity of the time.  Reading over old minutes of the faculty, I find recorded the requests of students to be excused from attending classes early in April as they wished to join a railway party; a few even asked to be excused from writing examinations until they returned in the fall.  Their requests always were granted, and I read between the lines that the Academic Staff of the College evidently thought that since some of these students could never obtain a degree, it made little difference whether they took any examinations at all.  Very much more serious views were taken of a request from a student who was taking the regular Bachelor of Arts Course.

In 1859 King’s College became the University of New Brunswick, and with pressure still strong to make the University more attractive to the young men of the Province, there appeared in the Calendar of that year the following notice:
SPECIAL UNDERGRADUATE COURSE OF STUDY
COURSE IN CIVIL ENGINEERING AND SURVEYING

The undergraduate course of Civil Engineering and Surveying shall occupy at least three terms, at the end of which time, students may be admitted to examination for a diploma on producing a certificate signed by the head of the College, that they have pursued in the University, or in some other affiliated Institution of the University, the following Courses of study:–The English Language, Mathematics, General Physics, Chemistry, Practical Mechanics, Physical Geography and History, Mineralogy, Geology, Civil Engineering, Including the Principles of Architecture.

This special course was passed and authorized by the Senate of the University, which came into being at the time of the granting of the New Charter and replaced the old College Council of King’s College.

In 1861 Dr. William Brydone Jack, to whom I have previously referred, and who joined the staff in 1840, became President.  His sympathy with the proposals for the expansion of the University are apparent in all four of the Encaenial addresses which we have been able to preserve in our Archives in the University Library.

Following the granting of the Charter to the University of New Brunswick in 1859, courses in Engineering were regularly given, and in accordance with the resolution of the Senate a successful student was to be given a certificate.  The first certificate that we have record of was given to Henry George Clopper Ketchum in June 1862.  This first document is now in possession of the University Library and reads as follows:
To all to whom these Presents shall Come.  I, William Brydone Jack, Doctor in Civil Law, and President of the University of New Brunswick, testify that George Henry Clopper Ketchum [sic], who was a student in the Special Undergraduate Course of Civil Engineering, in the late King’s College (now the University of New Brunswick), having fulfilled the requirements of the Statutes, is on this the fifth day of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, presented with this diploma, granted to students in Engineering in the said University.  In testimony whereof I herewith sign my name, and cause the Seal of the said University to be affixed.

Given in the aforesaid University this fifth day of June A.D. 1862.

                    BRYDONE JACK, President
                    E.H. WILMOT, Registrar

Unlike many students at this time, Mr. Ketchum followed Engineering as a profession.  He was interested particularly in the building of the Chignecto Canal and in the forming of a Chignecto Ship and Railway Company.  His dreams for the project did not come true, but it is of interest to note that the proposal has never since completely died and at the present time has again revived.  The present plan adds to the scheme of transportation, an electric power development, unknown in Mr. Ketchum’s day.  He left in his will provision for a silver medal to be given each year to the student in Civil Engineering having the highest standing in his class.  The Ketchum Silver Medal is awarded each year and links the student of modern engineering to one who saw the first days of engineering practice in this country. ...
From:
Baird, A. Foster.  "The History of Engineering at the University of New Brunswick." 
    In The University of New Brunswick Memorial Volume.  Edited by Alfred G. Bailey. 
    Fredericton: The University of New Brunswick, 1950.  pp. 75-86.
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