McMaster University resulted from the outgrowth of educational initiatives undertaken by Baptists as early as the 1830s. It was founded in 1881 as Toronto Baptist College. Canadian Senator William McMaster, the first president of the Canadian Bank of Commerce, bequeathed funds to endow a university, which was incorporated through a merger of Toronto Baptist College and Woodstock College, Woodstock, Ontario. In 1887 the Act to unite Toronto Baptist College and Woodstock College was granted royal assent, and McMaster University was officially incorporated. Woodstock College, Woodstock, and Moulton Ladies' College, Toronto, were maintained in close connection.