Tompkins, James John

Basic Biographical Information

Born in 1870 in the Margaree Valley in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, James John “Father Jimmy” Tompkins attended St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish and Urban College in Rome. A small, frail-looking man, Tompkins returned home in 1902 to be ordained and join the staff of St. Francis Xavier University. Inspired by ventures in adult education in Europe, Tompkins urged the university to serve the learning needs of ordinary people rather than educating an elite group of students. He forwarded his ideas on doing this with a People’s School on the campus in 1921 and the publication of a pamphlet, Knowledge for the Peoplein the following year. In 1922, his bishop exiled Tompkins to Canso for supporting a proposal to amalgamate the universities in the Maritimes. In this remote part of Novia Scotia, Tompkins organized poor fishermen to build their own lobster-packing plant, brought goats to the community to provide the children with milk, and urged his flock...