The genesis of the college bearing his name was a difficult, drawn-out affair. One of his heirs, a nephew named Francis DesriviΓ¨res, was eager to claim Burnside Place as his own; he stalled all progress, in the hope thatΒ the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ fortune would default to him.Β The Royal Institution, meanwhile, was a fledgling operation ill-equipped to deal with its own day-to-day operations, let alone do battle with the uncooperative DesriviΓ¨res. It was thanks to the rallying efforts of Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ’s former friend, John Strachan, that the Royal Institution pulled itself together and obtained a charter from King George IV in the spring of 1821. Three years later saw the appointment of a principal, Reverend George Jehosaphat Mountain (later Anglican Bishop of Quebec), and the hiring of four professors. Now all the Royal Institution needed was the school itself.
On June 24, 1829, Burnside Place was formally opened as Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ College. The college immediately struck a deal to have the Montreal Medical Institution act as its faculty of medicine. James Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ’s dream was picking up steam, although it would take another six years to settle the case with Francis DesriviΓ¨res, and internal bickering would cause even further delays. Finally, on September 6, 1843, twenty students filed into the new Arts Building. It was Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ College’s first day of classes, an historic moment thirty years in the making.