A human dynamo moved into the old Craigdarroch Castle…

Professor William Robbins, professor emeritus, UBC Department of English, and his wife, Margaret Robbins nee Ross, were both students at Victoria College when Walter Gage joined the teaching staff there. They recall some of his activities and his contribution to life at the College and at UBC.

In September, 1927, a human dynamo moved into the old Craigdarroch Castle which housed Victoria College, a local affiliate of UBC with a half-dozen professors teaching about 150 freshmen and sophomores. Walter Gage had come to teach mathematics.

But the energy and personality that made mathematics an exciting and, yes, entertaining subject soon overflowed into unstinted help of all kinds for the students, into registration and counselling, into guidance of extra-curricular activities; in fact, into a general catalytic action on the life of the College that took much of the load from a benign and appreciative Principal Percy Elliott.

The move back to UBC in 1933 meant, essentially, the transfer of that tremendous energy and those diverse gifts to a wider stage. Thousands throughout British Columbia and elsewhere have applauded the brilliant teaching and the administrative talents that carried Walter from assistant professor to president. They hailed him as “Mr. UBC” and have shared in the unique tribute to “The Age of Gage.”