Senior, Hereward

Hereward (Wake) Senior was born in 1918 in New York City and was educated in Nassau County, Long Island. He volunteered for the Canadian army in 1943 and served with the Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders. He fought in Europe, mainly as a Brengunner, and was wounded three times. He began his academic career at McGill with a B.A. degree in 1948 and continued at McGill to acquire a M.A. degree in 1951 and a PhD in 1959. His theses were in British political history and his PhD was published as a book, Orangeism in Ireland and Britain, 1795-1836. After completing his thesis, he shifted his focus towards Canadian political and military history with monographs on Orangeism, Loyalists and the Fenians. He also wrote a book on police institutions in Britain, Canada and the United States. He often expounded upon current events from a historical perspective through such vehicles as the Monarchy Canada newsletter. Senior had a penchant for examining the history of entities often portrayed as the losers of history. His intellectual lifelong commitment to a traditional, social conservatism also is reflected throughout his work including his correspondence with brother, John Senior (1923-1999), a Catholic scholar and Professor of Classics at Kansas University. He was quite active in the Anglican Church as well as with his wife Elinor in the Monarchist League.

He held academic appointments at Memorial, Royal Roads, and University of Toronto before coming to McGill in 1963. He became a full professor in 1971 and retired in 2005.