Ambitious Beginnings And Transitions

There was no social safety net. Hard times and poverty were rampant in Halifax and the need was great in 1768 when Chief Justice Jeremy Pemberton, Hon. John Butler Dight, Admiral Herbert Sawyer, R.N. and 68 leading citizens followed the Charitable Irish Society’s and the North British Society’s (“The Scots”) lead with the launch of the St. George’s Society at Halifax. The Society grew like a weed and its benevolence and social gatherings soon made a Saint George’s event “ the place to be seen”. With an annual dues of 20 shillings – roughly $240 today – the Society was well-funded and energetically fulfilled its ‘mission of charitable support for the “indigent, the distressed and newly arrived immigrants”.

As Halifax and the need grew, the Society kept pace. In 1807, the then St. George’s Society at Halifax was reorganized as the Saint George’s Benevolent Society and shortly thereafter Sir John Wentworth, 1^st Baronet, took the reins. In 1823 the Society was renamed The Saint George’s Society of Nova Scotia then reincorporated in 1856 as The Saint George’s Charitable Society of Halifax with Henry Pryor as president. One-hundred-and-six years and two World Wars later, Commander W.G. Hunt, C.D. was at the helm in 1992 when the Society recommitted to its mission and became, with Royal Assent, The Royal Saint George’s Society of Halifax, Nova Scotia.

The Royal St. George’s Society Today

In today’s hectic and homogenized world, an understanding and appreciation of our own heritage, and that of others, is more important than ever. Heritage isn’t just about folkways and festivals, monuments to military heroes and victories at sea, past poets, ancient cathedrals and celebratory St. George’s Day dinners. It fosters national pride, citizenship and a commitment to the “common good”.

Heritage is the “sweet-spot” where the past enriches the present.