• Date of Birth: June 15, 1888
  • Born City: Edinburgh
  • Born State/Country: Scotland
  • Parents: Thomas Randall & Agnes Monro D.
  • Date of Death: January 29, 1954
  • Death City: Toronto
  • Death State/Country: ON
  • Married: Mary Bulloch
  • Education:

    B.A. Oxford, 1910; M.A., 1913.

  • Professional Experience:

    Asst. class, mstr. Dundee (Scotland) HS, 1910-2; temporary positions in Greek and Ancient History, University College & Victoria College, U. of Toronto, 1913-18; actng. prof. Lat. & dept. head Queen's U., 1916-7; Asst. prof. Latin, University College, Toronto, 1918-21; asso. prof. Latin, 1921-32; prof. Latin, 1932-9; prof. Greek, 1939-40;  prof. Lat. Univ. Coll. & Trinity Coll., U. Toronto, 1940-54.

  • Publications:

    “Theories of the Primitive Life,” Can. Jour. Rel. Thought 2 (1924); “The Religious Purpose of the Aeneid: Aeneas and His Gods,” Can. Jour. Rel. Thought 6 (1928); Latin Prose Selections (in collaboration) (Toronto, 1943); First Latin Lessons, with David Breslove (Toronto, 1935; rev. & enlarged, 1938); A Book of Latin Poetry (in collaboration) (Toronto, 1932); Twenty-One Years a Building: A Short Account of the Student Christian Movement of Canada, 1920-1941 (Toronto, 1941).

  • Notes:

    Ernest Dale's towering figure impressed itself profoundly on generations of University of Toronto students. Vigorous, precise, magnanimous, and kindly, he also brought his sonorous voice and keen sense of theater into the lecture room with uncanny success. An accomplished actor, he was associated with Hart House Theatre from its opening in 1920, appearing in Alcestis in 1921. and in both the Antigone (1947) and Plautus's Rudens (1949) in his own translations. It was while attending a performance there that he had a fatal heart attack.  His contributions to Upper School Latin texts infused quickening sensitivity and scholarship into Ontario's high schools. His career in social service and as advocate of The Student Christian Movement was ardent and successful.

  • Sources:

    Can. WhWh (1952-54).

  • Author: Alexander G. McKay