Robert Terrill Rundle

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Robert Terrill Rundle (June 18, 1811 -- February 4, 1896) was a Wesleyan Methodist missionary from England. His most noteworthy activities relate to his missionary work in Western Canada between 1840 and 1848.

1 Early Life
2 Travel to Rupert's Land
3 Work in the Saskatchewan District
4 Trivia
5 Bibliography
6 External links

[edit] Early Life

Rundle was born in Mylor, England in 1811. As the nephew of a Methodist lay minister and grandson of a Methodist preacher, religion, in particular Methodism, was an obvious influence on Rundle's life. Rundle's father kept their family within the Church of England despite this. Eventually Rundle left the business school he had been attending for only two years in 1839, and began his missionary training as a Methodist because he was attracted to the social compassion aspects of Methodism.

[edit] Travel to Rupert's Land

In 1840, the Hudson's Bay Company requested that the Wesleyan Missionary Society dispatch several Methodist missionaries to Rupert's Land. The company, particularly its Rupert's Land Governor, George Simpson, felt that the Roman Catholic missionaries already working freely in Rupert's Land were beyond their control, and wanted to recruit new missionaries who would be attached to the company's fur trading posts. Robert Rundle was among the four who were invited, and after only two months of training, he was ordained. Just over a week later on March 8, 1840, he shipped out from Liverpool.

When Rundle landed in New York City, he travelled first north to Montreal, and then started westward on his long journey across the expanse of Rupert's Land. He encountered natives during this travel, and quickly found that the apprehensions that he had had of meeting them contrasted with the delight he felt at being with them. He arrived at Fort Edmonton, the center of the Hudson's Bay Company Saskatchewan District, in October of 1840.

[edit] Work in the Saskatchewan District

Initially optimistic about his work in Edmonton, Rundle was slowly demoralized on several fronts. First, the religious denomination most prevalent in Fort Edmonton was Catholic, thus few people attended Rundle's Protestant services; others were apathetic about religious practice in general. Also, while Rundle had made a valuable friend of Edmonton's Chief Factor John Rowand, the man initially felt that Rundle was green, naive, and ill-suited to pioneer living. George Simpson's support for Wesleyan missions deteriorated within just a few years, seeming to doom the Methodist efforts, while Rundle himself often feared his following was being wooed away by Catholic missionaries who infrequently passed through Fort Edmonton.

As a form of stress relief, Rundle often left his post at the Fort and visited with the natives to preach, and educated them in the cree syllabics invented by his Wesleyan missionary colleague, James Evans. In this way, Rundle became extremely well-travelled, having gone the distance between the HBC's larger trading posts in what is present-day Alberta, and having sought out the natives who lived in the country along the way.

During his visit to Rocky Mountain House in autumn of 1845, Rundle also became acquainted with Father Pierre-Jean De Smet. Though Du Smet was Catholic and Rundle was a Methodist Protestant, the two struck up a friendship that transcended the Christian schism.

Within the first few years of Rundle's ministry in Edmonton, the Hudson Bay Company erected a small chapel which Rundle boasted could seat 100 persons. Described by Rundle in a letter home, the structure served not only as a Chapel, but had a small lodging for Rundle including a study space.

Prone to recurring maladies such as toothaches and headaches, Rundle persevered for eight years in Rupert's Land until he suffered a more serious injury from an apparent horse-riding accident -- a fractured wrist -- in July of 1847. Even after 12 months Rundle's injury did not heal properly, rendering his left hand essentially useless. Rundle decided to return home to seek treatment; he reached England in September of 1848. While he had intended to go back to Rupert's Land, he never did again.

[edit] Trivia

Mount Rundle, which overlooks Banff, Alberta, was named for the Reverend by John Palliser in 1859, who noted that the Blackfoot in the area still showed signs of Rundle's influence despite his having been gone for over a decade.
Robert Rundle Elementary School in St. Albert, Alberta is named for him.