Edward Hartley Dewart

Edward Hartley Dewart
Born	1828 Stradone, County Cavan, Ireland
Died	17 June 1903 Toronto, Canada
Nationality	Canadian
Occupation	Methodist clergyman
Known for	Editor of The Christian Guardian

Edward Hartley Dewart (1828 – 17 June 1903) was an Irish-born Canadian Methodist clergyman, author and editor. He became a leading figure in the Methodist church and the temperance movement. For several years he edited the official Methodist journal The Christian Guardian. His poetry anthology Selections from Canadian Poets (1864) was the first anthology of Canadian poetry to be published.

Edward Hartley Dewart was born in Stradone, County Cavan, Ireland in 1828, son of James Dewart and Margaret Hartley. His family was of mixed Scottish and English origins, and were Anglicans. He migrated to Upper Canada with his parents in 1834. They settled in Dummer Township, now part of Peterborough County, where they adopted the Methodist faith. In 1847 Dewart went to Toronto to study at the Normal School (teachers' training college). Dewart became a teacher in Dunnville, where he also taught at the Wesleyan Methodist Sunday school and spoke for the Sons of Temperance.

Dewart was invited by church officials to become a preacher, and after four years probation was ordained a minister of the Wesleyan Methodist Church in London, Ontario in June 1855. His first post was in Dundas, Ontario. On 25 June 1856 he married Dorothy Matilda Hunt in Hamilton, Upper Canada. They had three sons, of whom two survived childhood. In the 1850s and 1860s Dewart preached on many different circuits. Dewart also became widely known for his poems and essays on religious themes. He urged readers to seek salvation, and warned of the dangers of unorthodox thought.

Dewart 's Selections from Canadian Poets was published in 1864, containing poems on devotional subjects or about the grandeur of the wilderness of Canada. This was the first anthology of Canadian verse to be published, and had clearly stated nationalistic goals. The book aimed to "rescue from oblivion some of the floating pieces of Canadian authorship worthy of preservation in a more permanent form." In his introductory essay Dewart said "a national literature is an essential element in the formation of the national character. It is not merely the record of a country's mental progress: it is the expression of its intellectual life, the bond of national unity, and the guide of national energy." He lamented that although poets should be national heroes, in a young country like Canada "if a Milton or a Shakspere ... was to arise among us, it is far from certain that his merit would be recognised."

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