• Date of Birth: June 14, 1911
  • Born City: Toronto
  • Born State/Country: ON
  • Parents: John Housley, master at Upper Canada Coll, & Edith Alice Medland C.
  • Date of Death: June 11, 1983
  • Death City: Sackville
  • Death State/Country: New Brunswick
  • Education:

    BA Trinity Coll, U Toronto, 1933; BA Oxford (St John's Coll), 1935; MA 1939; PhD Johns Hopkins, 1939; LLD Mt Allison, 1982

  • Dissertation:

    “Archival Material in Livy 218-167 BC” (Johns Hopkins, 1939)

  • Professional Experience:

    lctr class, Dartmouth, 1939-40; master, Trinity Coll Sch (Port Hope), 1941-2; asst prof Mt Allison U (Sackville, NB),1946-7; Wood prof Lat & dept head, 1947-75; edit, comm, Phoenix,1946-71; pres Class Assn Can 1966-8; publ comm, Hum Res Counc Canada

  • Publications:

    “The Annals of the Pontifex Maximus,” CP 35 (1940) 375-86; “Rome and the Aetolian Alliance,” TAPA 71 (1940) xxxii; “Roman Politics from 215 to 209 BC,” Phoenix 17 (1963) 123-30; “Early Christians and Roman Law,” Phoenix 19 (1965) 61-70

  • Notes:

    Magisterial interpreter of Roman republican history and respected for his work with the pontifical annals, “Ernie” Crake came to Mount Allison as successor to J. W. Cohoon. Professor and Head of the Department from 1947 to his retirement in 1975, Crake was a dutiful steward of his university, a valued contributor to Phoenix, and meritorious president of the Classical Association of Canada. Candid in appraising his own performance and the behavior of others, witty and responsive at all times, his record as overworked teacher, scholar, and genial colleague was impeccable. During his final years he established The Crake Institute to promote the classics and to highlight Mount Allison University.

  • Sources:

    DAS 1974:98; M E Milham, EMC 29 (1985) 202; Mt Allison Campus Notebook (Oct 1981); Sackville Tribune Post (15 June 1983) 5

  • Author: Alexander G. McKay