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Egerton Ryerson (Adolphus Egerton Ryerson), 1803–82, Canadian clergyman and educator, b. Ontario. He was a founder (1829) and the first editor of the Christian Guardian, a Methodist periodical that achieved wide circulation under his guidance. His attack (1826) on the powerful Church of England clergyman John Strachan, exponent of clergy reserves and ecclesiastical control of education, was the beginning of many years of political controversy. Ryerson founded and was first president (1841) of Victoria College, Cobourg (later Victoria Univ.). He was superintendent (1844–76) of public schools in Upper Canada. The school system of Ontario, largely his creation, served as a model for other provincial school systems.
See biography by C. Thomas (1969); J. H. Putnam, Egerton Ryerson and Education in Upper Canada (1912).
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