Late 18th century and 19th century

King's College traces its origins to the King's College of New York City.^[13] On 31 October 1754, King George II of Great Britain issued the charter for King's College within New York City, establishing it as the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York and the fifth-oldest in the United States.^[14] In 1776, during the eruption of the American Revolutionary War, studies at the university halted for the subsequent eight years. During this period, the college's library was looted, and its sole building was requisitioned for use as a military hospital first by American and then British forces.^[15][16] When Patriots took over the university, Bishop Charles Inglis, the rector of Trinity Church, led the flight of Loyalists to Windsor, Nova Scotia.

In 1788, the resettled Anglican Loyalists founded the King's Collegiate School in Windsor and named it for King George III of Great Britain.^[17] During the following year, the University of King's College emerged from the collegiate while an act was passed for "the permanent establishment and effectual support of a college at Windsor," and £400 per annum was granted towards its maintenance.^[18] The college opened in 1790,^[19] and received a royal charter from King George III in 1802,^[6] becoming Canada's first English-speaking, degree-granting university. Even though the University of New Brunswick traces its history to another King's College, this one at Fredericton, established in 1785, it did not initially receive degree-granting powers through a Royal Charter until 1827. Similarly, McGill University traces its origins to 1801 but did not receive a Royal Charter until 1821.^[20]

In 1891, King's chapel acquires the oldest (c. 1663) Anglican chalice in Canada^[21]

Windsor was chose was the location of the college, as it was described at the time as "a cherished semi-rural retreat for generations of Nova Scotians."^[22] In fact, the Mi'kmaq occupied the land, called Pesaquid, for more than 10,000 years. This land had been taken from the Mi'kmaq by French colonists in the 16th century, and named the area Pisiguit, part of the French colony of Acadia. British colonists took the land from the French, as part of the larger conflict of the Seven Years' War. The founders of King's College, representing the most politically and financially powerful of these British colonists, had only been in the area since the 1750s, with the construction of Fort Edward and the expulsion of the Acadians, beginning in 1755.

A significant reason for the establishment of King's College was to discourage white, Anglican colonial males from studying in the United States, so as to guard against the influence of American Republicanism and maintain loyalty to the British Crown.^[22]

The founding of a College or Seminary of learning on a liberal plan in that province [Nova Scotia] where youth may receive a virtuous education and can be qualified for the learned professions, is, we humbly conceive, a member of great consequence, as it would diffuse religious literature, loyalty, and good morals among His Majesty's subjects there. If such a seminary is not established the inhabitants will have no means of educating their sons at home, but will be under the but will necessity of sending them for that purpose either to Great Britain…or else some of the states of this continent, where they will soon imbibe principles that are unfavourable to the British Constitution.^[22]

On this, the Archbishop of Nova Scotia and a founder of the college, Charles Inglis, was quite clear:

...one of the principle motives for pushing [the college] forward was to prevent the importation of American Divines and American politics into the province. Unless we have a seminary here, the youth of Nova Scotia will be sent for their education to the Revolted Colonies—the inevitable consequences would be a corruption of their religious and political principle. ^[22]

Maintaining British English as the dominant language in the colony was another significant reason for the college, as was made clear by the college's founders:

A very principal object of the new institution would be accomplished by assimilating the manner of the rising generation to those of the parent state . . . to teach the genuine use, practice and pronunciation of the English language, which in distant colonies is apt to degenerate, and that the purity of the language, undebased by local or national accents and solecisms, is undeniably to be found in the Kingdom of England.^[22]

These ideas continued during the development and appointments of the college's board, principals, and faculty. Influence in the development of the college came from the highest levels, both in Nova Scotia, including the first Bishop of Nova Scotia, and in England, through the Archbishop of Canterbury, and King George III. The first Board of Governors include the colony's Governor, the Lieutenant Governor, the Chief Justice, the Secretary of the colony, the Speaker of the House of Assembly, the Attorney General, and the Solicitor General.^[22]

The university was modelled on older English universities which were generally residential, tutorial, and closely tied to the Church of England.^[23] Only white, British males could attend the college, and with its Anglican affiliation, these students, during the 19th century, were required to adhere to the 39 Articles of the Anglican Church. As a result, significant groups were barred from attending, including Mi'kmaq people, French-speaking, Roman Catholic people, other Protestant sects, and slave children, including those slaves owned by the founders^[24] of the town of Windsor.

Early and mid-20th century

A view of the A&A, North Pole Bay, and Cochran Bay from across the Quad in a spring fog

On February 5, 1920, a fire consumed the university campus. Although the cause of the blaze is still unknown, tradition states it was caused by students "playing with matches" in a dormitory. Due to frozen fire hydrants, the blaze could not be put out and the buildings burned to the ground.

In 1922, the Carnegie Foundation offered a conditional grant to rebuild King's College. Among the provisions were that King's College was to be rebuilt in Halifax, the capital of Nova Scotia, and that it was to enter into an association with Dalhousie University.^[27] The partnership required King's to pay the salaries of select Dalhousie professors, who, in return, would help manage King's College.^[27] In addition, students at King's would be permitted to study at Dalhousie, while Dalhousie students would be permitted to study at King's with the exception of divinity; the granting of all other degrees outlined in the 1802 charter was to be temporarily halted.^[27] The conditions were in hope that one day all of Nova Scotia's universities would merge into a single body, much like the University of Toronto.

King's College accepted the funding and relocated to the northwest corner of Dalhousie's Studley Campus, at the intersection of Oxford Street and Coburg Road. Alongside the move, the institution renamed itself “University of King's College”. Other universities in Halifax similarly did not follow through with the Carnegie Foundation's merger plan.

In the formative years of King's College, many more types of degrees were offered than the institution offers today; for example, the University of New Brunswick Faculty of Law traces its history to the "King's College Law School" that was established in 1892 in Saint John, New Brunswick by King's College (Windsor). While the University of King's College has never lost nor relinquished interest in these granting powers, they are held in abeyance due to agreements with the University of King's College's partner, Dalhousie University, as part of the agreement to allow the portion of Dalhousie's campus to be used by the University of King's College.

Consolidation was a way to strengthen this small and financially insecure institution. In the early part of this century, professional education expanded beyond the traditional fields of theology, law and medicine. Graduate training based on the German-inspired American model of specialized course work and the completion of a research thesis was introduced.^[23]

In 1923, the former site of King's College in Windsor was designated a National Historic Site.^[28]

When World War II broke out, King's was requisitioned by the military for the training of naval officers between 1941 and 1945.^[27] King's functioned as a "stone frigate", providing a facility for navigation training before officers were sent to their ships. This role is highlighted in the 1943 Hollywood feature film, Corvette K-225, a part of which was filmed on the University campus. The academic life of the College carried on during those years elsewhere in Halifax, aided by Dalhousie University and the United Church's Pine Hill Divinity Hall. In reflection of this naval past, the student bar on campus is known as the HMCS King's Wardroom, often referred to as "The Wardroom" or "The Wardy".

During the war, the Germans would occasionally broadcast names of Allied ships they had sunk. As ships had to keep radio silence, these reports could not be verified, and it was suspected that many were false. Allies circulated lists of non-active ships in the hopes of feeding the Germans misinformation; when the Germans broadcast that they had sunk HMCS King's, their ruse was exposed.

After the war, the campus was returned to the University. The policy of university education initiated in the 1960s responded to population pressure and the belief that higher education was a key to social justice and economic productivity for individuals and for society.^[5]

Late 20th century and 21st century

University of King's College in Autumn with Castine Way along the foreground

Until the spring of 1971, the university granted graduate theological degrees as well as undergraduate degrees. In the same year, the Faculty of Divinity was moved to Pine Hill, where it was formally amalgamated into the Atlantic School of Theology, an ecumenical venture with the United Church of Canada and the Roman Catholic Church. While this new institution now grants its own degrees, King's holds in abeyance its rights to grant divinity credentials and still continues to grant annual honorary degrees.

In 1972, King's faculty and alumni created the Foundation Year Program, a first-year great books course that would count for four of a student's five first-year credits. The program consisted of six sections from The Ancient World to The Contemporary World, in which students would read the work of major philosophers, poets, historians and scientists, receive lectures from a range of experts in all these areas, write critical papers and engage in small-group discussion and tutorials. The program initially had 30 students; it now draws almost 300 a year, most of whom live in residence on campus. Many of those who taught in the program in its early days were colleagues and students of the philosopher James Doull, who exercised a considerable degree of influence on the program in its formative stages. In 1989, Doull was awarded an honorary doctorate by the university.

In 1977, King's introduced two Bachelor of Journalism programs: a four-year honours degree and a one-year compressed degree for students who already hold a bachelor's degree.

In 1989, a campus library building was erected to commemorate the bicentennial of the university.^[29] It replaced a smaller library in the Arts and Administration building. The library has won numerous architectural awards. In 2000, the same architect designed the school's New Academic Building. In 2001, additional residence rooms were added in the basement of Alexandra Hall to accommodate some of the new students. Residence can currently accommodate 274 students, and nearly all on-campus living spaces are reserved for FYP students, though some spaces are reserved for upper-year students. All buildings on the present campus are celebrated reconstructions and derivations of the buildings of the original 1789 campus in Windsor, Nova Scotia. A system of tunnels connects the residences to the other buildings of the campus: a feature common to North American universities, and particularly common to many institutional buildings in Halifax.

The King's Library houses an impressive collection not only of rare Anglican church documents, but also a vast collection of original artwork, Renaissance and medieval books, and extensive archival material of relevance both to the history of Nova Scotia and the university. It also has some ancient artifacts, along with the Weldon Collection of fine imported china. Many of the rare books stem from the original, private collection of university founder, Charles Inglis. Recently, the blueprints for the buildings of the current campus were consulted in the library to restore the famed cupola crowning the A&A Building to its original, 1920s condition.

In 1993, King's created the Contemporary Studies program. In 1999, King's launched the Early Modern Studies program. In 2000, King's commenced the History of Science and Technology program.^[6] Each of these programs can constitute one component of a jointly conferred combined honours degree with Dalhousie. The Upper Year Program, like the Foundation Year Program, place a strong emphasis on historical contextualized, interdisciplinary study as opposed to traditional university departmentalization.

Today, there are over 1,000 students at King's, which represents significant growth over enrolment in the 1960s and 1970s. Its first-year class is made up mainly of Foundation Year Program students. In 2001, the FYP class was 274 students, with slightly over a hundred of these students coming from Ontario. The growing number of students from out of province reflects King's growing academic reputation and its transformation from a small, local college to a nationally acclaimed university. However, King's maintains strong ties to its host city and province and the number of Nova Scotians attending King's rose 23 per cent between 1994 and 2004.

The largest ever FYP class was in 2004 with 309 students. However, the administration has resolved to cap future classes at just under 300. With improved retention rates, the school's population looks to stabilize at around 1,200 in future years. The number of students leaving after first year has dropped significantly since the introduction of the upper year inter-disciplinary programs.

King's' transformation from a small college catering mainly to local Anglican students into a more intellectually cosmopolitan university with a strong national profile has been a resounding success. In terms of teaching quality, King's has been placed in the same academic league as top Canadian research universities like McGill and Toronto. One recent academic commentator summed up King's growing renown for its quality of teaching and eccentric student culture by remarking "If there is a Harvard of the North, it’s more likely King’s than McGill — although a better analogy would be a cross between Harry Potter’s Hogwarts and Camp Wanapitei in Temagami." The new programs, combined with a rigorous set of academic expectations and a cooperative academic culture, have proven a hit with high achieving high school students. Conservative estimates put the entrance average of first year King's students at 87%, or a strong A in Canadian high school marks.^[30]

In October 2003, Dr. William Barker was installed as president and vice-chancellor, replacing Dr. Colin Starnes. Dr. Barker and the rest of the university administration have declared that King's has grown as much as it can and should. They describe the coming years as "a time of consolidation", with a focus on retention and development of new programs.

The university's growth has changed some King's traditions. Formal meals, with Latin grace and academic gowns, formerly held at regular intervals, were suspended from 2001 until 2003. Only with the arrival of Dr. Barker were they reinstated. They now take place on the first Wednesday of every month.

In July 2006, the King's Student Union founded the King's Co-op Bookstore; it stocks every title on the FYP Reading List, as well as all necessary books for King's other courses and a number of Dalhousie courses and general interest fiction and non-fiction. The bookstore is a student-owned co-operative which functions separately from both the student union and the university.

King's College administration has not avoided controversy. After the Sodexo cleaning staff unionized in 2004, the housekeeping contract was awarded to a different company during the summer. The King's Student Union had been involved in encouraging the workers to unionize in order to improve their working conditions, and there were strenuous objections to the awarding of the new contract.

The University of King’s College's arms were registered with the Canadian Heraldic Authority on August 15, 2007.^[31]

Traditions

Once every two months, formal meals are held. Students wearing traditional academic gowns are led into the meal hall by a bagpiper. Once they have found their seat, a Latin grace is said. Afterwards, the catered meal begins. These meals were formerly held at regular intervals, but were suspended from 2001 until 2003. They were reinstated during the presidency of William Barker at his behest.

The UKing's Literary Society (formerly the Haliburton Society), a student-run literary society, has hosted discussions concerning poetry and prose since 1884. The society remains the longest-standing university literary society throughout the Commonwealth of Nations and North America.^[37] The society took its original name from the Canadian politician Thomas Chandler Haliburton. It adopted its current name in 2020, as a result of a long-standing controversy over Haliburton's pro-slavery views.^[38]

Residence

The residences are built in the Georgian style typical of the original campus. Each "bay", as the original residences were termed in Windsor, is modelled on the system of 'staircases' at England's Oxford University. Each has also been named with a seemingly ironic moniker: North Pole Bay sits atop the university's boiler rooms, and is arguably the warmest location on campus; Chapel Bay is named after the campus chapel, but is located the furthest distance from it; Radical Bay originally housed the refined, quiet divinity students; Middle Bay, which was named for its location as it is between Chapel and Radical, is named ironically as being the only non-ironic name; in addition, there is Cochran Bay, named after the first president of the College, William Cochran, and is the closest to the campus chapel.

Often residence-wide parties, known as 'bay parties,' occurred, but were cancelled for in 2003. However, there was a brief a revival during the 2005-2006 school year, with both Radical Bay and Cochran Bay hosting several highly successful events. In place of this tradition, each Bay now organizes a themed-event on campus during different times of the school year.

Another consequence of increased enrolment has been a more unbalanced composition of the residences. Traditionally, students from all years of study have lived in residence, but increasingly, very few upper year students continue to live on campus, thus making way for more first years. In 2006, Alexandra Hall, traditionally the all-women's residence, was made co-ed for the first time with rooms in the basement alternating between male and female occupants as well as one wing of the first floor becoming all-male. In addition, two of the five bays were re-converted to co-ed living spaces in 2006.

Tuition

The current Arts tuition for a full, 15-credit hour semester at the University of King's College is $3,541.20 CAD. This cost is subject to change from semester to semester. A single, 3-credit hour course in Winter 2023 was reimbursed to students at the cost of $819.75 CAD.

There are separate fees for student services, residence, and meal plans. Some of these are not required to be paid by all students. The following table are the Fall 2023/2024 costs for a domestic student taken from the Dalhousie Online portal 'Student Records - Account Detail by Term."

International students pay higher prices, with one student paying a sum total of $35,348.14 for the Fall 2022/Winter 2023 Semester while living in the North Pole Bay residence.

Annual events

Athletics

King's is a member of the Atlantic Colleges Athletic Association (ACAA). The Varsity athletics teams at the University of King's College are named the Blue Devils.^[43] Sporting teams include men's and women's basketball, soccer, badminton and rugby, and women's volleyball.^[44]

List of presidents

• William Cochran (1789–1804)
• Thomas Cox (1804–1805)
• Charles Porter (1805–1836)
• George McCawley (1836–1875)
• John Dart (1875–1885)
• Isaac Brock (1885–1889)
• Charles E. Willets (1889–1904)
• Ian Hannah (1904–1906)
• C. J. Boulden (1906–1909)
• T. W. Powell (1909–1914)
• Charles E. Willets (Acting President, 1914–1916)
• T. S. Boyle (1916–1924)
• A. H. Moore (1924–1937)
• A. Stanley Walker (1937–1953)
• H. L. Puxley (1954–1963)
• H. D. Smith (1963–1969)
• F. Hilton Page (Acting President, 1969–1970)
• J. Graham Morgan (1970–1977)
• John Godfrey (1977–1987)
• Marion G. Fry (1987–1993)
• Colin Starnes (1993–2003)
• William Barker (2003–2011)
• Anne Leavitt (2011–2012)
• George Cooper (2012–2016)^[1]
• William Lahey (2016–present)^[45]

Notable current and former faculty

• Michael Bishop - Author of The Endless Theory of Days and Scholar of French Contemporary. Director of Editions VVV Editions
• George Bain - Director of the School of Journalism, 1979–85
• Wayne Hankey - Carnegie Professor and Chair of the Classics department at Dalhousie, 2001-2015
• Robert D. Crouse - Chair of Classics department at Dalhousie, co-founder of Dionysius
• Sir Charles G. D. Roberts - prominent member of the group known as the Confederation Poets
• Henry How - Chemist and mineralogist, described two minerals new to science: howlite and mordenite
• Dean Jobb - Associate Professor of Journalism, former reporter and editor for The Chronicle Herald
• Kim Kierans - Vice president (2010–2017), former director of the King's School of Journalism, and writer/editor for CBC Radio One
• Stephen Kimber - Rogers Communications Chair in Journalism, prominent journalist and columnist for The Daily News
• Daniel Brandes - Director of the Foundation Year Program, and author of Nietzsche, Arendt, and the Promise of the Future and Fackenheim on Self-Making, Divine and Human
• Gordon McOuat - former Director of the History of Science and Technology Program
• Susan Newhook - Assistant Professor of Journalism and researcher, reporter and editor for CBC from 1980 to 1998
• Samuel Henry Prince - Founder of the Dalhousie School of Social Work, and author of Catastrophe and Social Change.
• Stephen Snobelen - Director of the History of Science and Technology Program; Featured in BBC documentary Newton: The Dark Heretic
• Walter Stewart - Director of the School of Journalism
• Kelly Toughill - Director of the King's School of Journalism and former Deputy Executive Editor of the Toronto Star
• Fred Vallance-Jones - Associate Professor of Journalism and former Investigative reporter at The Hamilton Spectator and CBC Radio
• Laura Penny - Author of Your Call Is Important To Us: The Truth About Bullshit and More Money Than Brains: Why School Sucks, College is Crap, and Idiots Think They're Right

Notable alumni

• Rich Aucoin - Canadian indie rock musician
• Kathryn Borel - writer, editor, radio producer
• Margaret Sibella Brown - bryologist
• Ryan Hemsworth - producer and DJ
• William Johnston Almon
• Matthew Murphy of The Super Friendz - influential Canadian rock band of the 90s
• James "Calbert" Best - journalist and Canadian Diplomat
• Frederick Borden - Canadian Minister of Militia and Defence from 1896–1911
• Ben Caplan - folk musician
• Amor de Cosmos (1825–1897) - Premier of British Columbia, 1872-1874
• Darrell Dexter - Nova Scotia Premier, 2009–2013
• Jay Ferguson and Patrick Pentland of Sloan
• Lionel Avard Forsyth - president of the Dominion Steel and Coal Corporation
• Simon Gibbons - Canada's first Inuit priest
• Trevor Greene - writer, journalist, Canadian veteran wounded in the war in Afghanistan and subject of the documentary Peace Warrior
• Darren Greer - winner of the 2015 Thomas Head Raddall Award for his novel Just Beneath My Skin
• Thomas Chandler Haliburton - author
• John Hamm - Nova Scotia Premier, 1999–2006
• Sir John Eardley Inglis (1814–1862), in charge of the British forces at the Siege of Lucknow^[46]
• Martine L. Jacquot - author, journalist and academic
• Amber MacArthur - internet media personality
• Julianne MacLean - novel writer
• Russell MacLellan - Nova Scotia Premier, 1997–1999
• Stephen Blackwood - founding President of Ralston College
• Stephen Marche - author of Raymond & Hannah
• David McGuffin - CBC Africa correspondent
• H. R. Milner - lawyer and businessman; Chancellor from 1957 to 1963
• Stephanie Nolen - Africa correspondent for The Globe and Mail and author of 28: Stories of AIDS in Africa
• Roland Ritchie - Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada
• Cuthbert Aikman Simpson - Dean of Christ Church and Regius Professor of Hebrew at Oxford University
• Johanna Skibsrud - author of The Sentimentalists, 2010 Scotiabank Giller Prize winner
• Thomas Suther - Bishop of Aberdeen
• Miriam Toews - winner, 2004 Governor General's Award for Fiction for her novel A Complicated Kindness
• Al Tuck - folksinger
• Augustus Welsford - one of two soldiers whose heroic deaths at the Siege of Sevastopol during the Crimean War are marked by the Welsford-Parker Monument in Halifax's Old Burying Ground
• Millefiore Clarkes - PEI filmmaker