John Galt (2 May 1779 – 11 April 1839) was a
ScottishScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
novelA novel is a long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
ist.
Born in
Irvine, North AyrshireIrvine is a coastal new town in North Ayrshire, Scotland. According to recent population estimates , the town is home to 39,527 as the largest settlement within North Ayrshire....
, Scotland, Galt was the son of a naval
captainCaptain is the name most often given in English-speaking navies to the rank corresponding to command of the largest ships. The NATO rank code is OF-5, equivalent to an army full colonel.The equivalent rank in many navies is Ship-of-the-Line Captain...
. When his family relocated to
MaldenOld Malden is a ward of the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames south west of Charing Cross. At the 2001 Census its population was 9,012, out of a total of 147,273 for the whole borough.-Orientation:...
in 1789, Galt became an apprentice and junior clerk, writing essays and stories for local journals in his spare time. He moved to
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
in 1804 to seek his fortune. In 1809, Galt began studying
lawLaw is a system of rules, usually enforced through a set of institutions. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a primary social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus ticket to trading on derivatives markets...
at
Lincoln's InnThe Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn...
.
While subsequently traveling in
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
, Galt met and befriended Lord Byron.
John Galt (2 May 1779 – 11 April 1839) was a
ScottishScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
novelA novel is a long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
ist.
Born in
Irvine, North AyrshireIrvine is a coastal new town in North Ayrshire, Scotland. According to recent population estimates , the town is home to 39,527 as the largest settlement within North Ayrshire....
, Scotland, Galt was the son of a naval
captainCaptain is the name most often given in English-speaking navies to the rank corresponding to command of the largest ships. The NATO rank code is OF-5, equivalent to an army full colonel.The equivalent rank in many navies is Ship-of-the-Line Captain...
. When his family relocated to
MaldenOld Malden is a ward of the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames south west of Charing Cross. At the 2001 Census its population was 9,012, out of a total of 147,273 for the whole borough.-Orientation:...
in 1789, Galt became an apprentice and junior clerk, writing essays and stories for local journals in his spare time. He moved to
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
in 1804 to seek his fortune. In 1809, Galt began studying
lawLaw is a system of rules, usually enforced through a set of institutions. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a primary social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus ticket to trading on derivatives markets...
at
Lincoln's InnThe Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn...
.
While subsequently traveling in
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
, Galt met and befriended Lord Byron. On his return to London, Galt wrote an account of his travels, which met with moderate success. Decades later, he would also publish the first full
biographyA biography is a description or account of someone's life and the times, which is usually published in the form of a book or essay, or in some other form, such as a film. An autobiography is a biography of a person's life written or told by that same person...
of Lord Byron. He also published the first biography of the painter
Benjamin WestBenjamin West RA was an Anglo-American painter of historical scenes around and after the time of the American War of Independence...
,
The Life and Studies of Benjamin West (1816, expanded 1820).
In 1813, Galt attempted to establish a
GibraltarGibraltar is a self-governing British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula and Europe at the entrance of the Mediterranean overlooking the Strait of Gibraltar. The territory covers and shares a land border with Spain to the north...
ian trading company, in order to circumvent Napoleon's
embargoAn embargo is the prohibition of commerce and trade with a certain country, in order to isolate it and to put its government into a difficult internal situation, given that the effects of the embargo are often able to make its economy suffer from the initiative. It is similar to a blockade, as in...
on
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
trade; however,
WellingtonField Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, KG, KP, GCB, GCH, PC, FRS , was an Anglo-Irish soldier and statesman, and one of the leading military and political figures of the nineteenth century....
's victory in
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
made this no longer necessary. Galt then returned to London and married Elizabeth Tilloch. In 1815, he became Secretary of the Royal Caledonian Asylum in London. He also privately consulted in several business ventures.
Concentrating on his writing for the next several years, Galt lived at times in London,
GlasgowGlasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
,
EdinburghEdinburgh is the capital city of Scotland. It is the second largest Scottish city, after Glasgow, and the seventh-most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas....
and elsewhere. In addition to fiction, he also wrote a number of school texts under the
pseudonymA pseudonym is a fictitious name used by a person, or sometimes, a group.Pseudonyms are often used to hide an individual's real identity, as with writers' pen names, graffiti artists, resistance fighters' or terrorists' noms de guerre and computer hackers' handles. Actors, musicians, and other...
Reverend T. Clark. In addition to moving his residence frequently during this period, Galt also switched publishers several times, moving from
Blackwood's MagazineBlackwood's Magazine was a British magazine and miscellany printed between 1817 and 1980. It was founded by the publisher William Blackwood and was originally called the Edinburgh Monthly Magazine. The first number appeared in April 1817 under the editorship of Thomas Pringle and James Cleghorn...
to Oliver and Boyd and then back again.
In 1824, Galt was appointed Secretary to the
Canada CompanyThe Canada Company was a large private chartered British land development company, incorporated by an act of British parliament on July 27, 1825, to aid the colonization of Upper Canada. Canada Company assisted emigrants by providing good ships, low fares, implements and tools, and inexpensive...
, a charter company established to aid in the colonization of
Upper CanadaThe Province of Upper Canada was a British colony located in what is now the southern portion of the Province of Ontario in Canada. Upper Canada officially existed from 26 December 1791 to 10 February 1841 and generally comprised present-day Southern Ontario...
. While in
CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, Galt lived in
OntarioOntario is a province located in east-central Canada, the largest by population and second largest, after Quebec, in total area. Ontario is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba to the west and Quebec to the east, and 5 U.S...
, where he founded the city of
GuelphGuelph is a city in Ontario, Canada.Guelph may also refer to:* Guelph , consisting of the City of Guelph, Ontario* Guelph , as the above* University of Guelph, in the same city...
in 1827. The community of
GaltCambridge is a city located in Southern Ontario on the Grand River and Speed River in the Region of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. It is composed of the former city of Galt, town of Preston, and town of Hespeler, Ontario. covers the largest portion of Cambridge, taking up the southern half of the city...
in Ontario was named after him. His three sons played prominent roles in Canadian
politicsPolitics is a process by which groups of people make decisions. The term is generally applied to behavior within civil governments, but politics has been observed in all human group interactions, including corporate, academic and religious institutions...
; one of them,
AlexanderSir Alexander Tilloch Galt, GCMG, PC was an English-Canadian politician, and a father of Canadian Confederation....
, was one of the 'Fathers of the
ConfederationCanadian Confederation was the process by which the federal Dominion of Canada was formed, officially beginning on July 1, 1867, with the new provinces of Ontario and Quebec along with two other British colonies, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, which also became provinces.-Usage:Canada is a...
', and Canada's first
Minister of FinanceThe Minister of Finance is the Minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet who is responsible each year for presenting the federal government's budget...
.
During his tenure with the Canada Company, Galt ran afoul of several colonial authorities, including
Sir Peregrine MaitlandSir Peregrine Maitland, KCB, GCB was a British soldier and colonial administrator who played first-class cricket from 1798 to 1808....
,who was Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada at the time. He was heavily criticised by his employers for his lack of basic accounting skills and failure to carry out their established policies. This resulted in his dismissal and recall to Great Britain in 1829.
Soon after his return to
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
he was imprisoned for several months for failure to pay his debts. One of Galt's last novels,
The Member, has political corruption as its central theme.
Despite failing health, Galt was involved in another colonial business venture, the British American Land Company,which was formed to develop lands in the Eastern Townships of
Lower CanadaThe Province of Lower Canada was a British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence...
. Galt served as secretary but was forced to resign in December 1832 because of his health.
He retired to
GreenockGreenock is a town and former burgh of barony in the Inverclyde council area of western Scotland. It forms part of a contiguous urban area with Gourock to the west and Port Glasgow to the east. Greenock lies within the Central Lowlands geographic area of Scotland.Greenock's population was...
in
ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, publishing his two volume
Autobiography in 1833.
John Galt is commemorated in Makars' Court, outside The Writers' Museum, Lawnmarket, Edinburgh and by the John Galt memorial fountain in Greenock. In 2006, the community of Guelph proclaimed the first Monday in August, "John Galt Day."
Works
Galt's novels are best known for their depiction of Scottish rural life, tinged with ironic humour. Galt wrote the following works:
- Cursory Reflections on Political and Commercial Topics (1812)
- The Life and Administration of Cardinal Wolsey (1812)
- The Tragedies of Maddelen, Agamemnon
In Greek mythology, Agamemnon / is the son of King Atreus of Mycenae and Queen Aerope; the brother of Menelaus and the husband of Clytemnestra; different mythological versions make him the king either of Mycenae or of Argos...
, Lady MacbethLady Macbeth may refer to:*Lady Macbeth , from the play Macbeth **Queen Gruoch of Scotland, the real-life Queen on whom Shakespeare based the character...
, AntoniaAntonia can refer to the girl's name Antonia, which is pronounced anne-TONE-eeh-yah or ann-TON-ya. It is of Roman origin, used as the name of women of the Antonius family...
and ClytemnestraClytemnestra is the traditional, but mistaken, English form for what is properly "Clytaemestra". "Her name in Greek is Klutaiméstra . . . the form with μν first appeared in the middle Byzantine period . . . and is due to a false etymological connection with μναoμαι 'woo, court'. Aeschylus . ....
(1812)
- Voyages and Travels (1812)
- Letters from the Levant (1813)
- The Life and Studies of Benjamin West
Benjamin West RA was an Anglo-American painter of historical scenes around and after the time of the American War of Independence...
(1816)
- The Majolo (2 volumes) (1816)
- The Appeal (1818)
- The Wandering Jew
The Wandering Jew is a figure from medieval Christian folklore whose legend began to spread in Europe in the thirteenth century. The original legend concerns a Jew who taunted Jesus on the way to the Crucifixion and was then cursed to walk the earth until the Second Coming...
(1820)
- The Earthquake (3 volumes) (1820)
- Glenfell (1820)
- The Life, Studies and Works of Benjamin West
Benjamin West RA was an Anglo-American painter of historical scenes around and after the time of the American War of Independence...
(1820)
- Annals of the Parish (1821)
- The Ayrshire
Ayrshire is a registration county, and former administrative county in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine. The town of Troon on the coast has hosted the British Open Golf Championship twice in the last seven...
Legatees (1821)
- Sir Andrew Wylie (3 volumes) (1822)
- The Provost (1822)
- The Steam-Boat (1822)
- The Entail (3 volumes) (1823)
- The Gathering of the West (1823)
- Ringan Gilhaize (3 volumes) (1823)
- The Spaewife (3 volumes) (1823)
- The Bachelor's Wife (1824)
- Rothelan (3 volumes) (1824)
- The Omen (1825)
- The Last of the Laird
A Laird is a member of the gentry and is a heritable title in Scotland. In the non-peerage table of precedence, a Laird ranks below a Baron and above an Esquire.-Etymology:...
s (1826)
- Lawrie Todd (1830)
- The Life of Lord Byron (1830)
- Southennan (3 volumes) (1830)
- Bogle Corbet or The Emigrants (3 volumes) (1831)
- The Lives of the Players (1831)
- The Member (1832)
- The Radical (1832)
- Stanley Buxton (3 volumes) (1832)
- Autobiography (2 volumes) (1833)
- Eben Erskine or The Traveller (3 volumes) (1833)
- The Ouranoulagos or The Celestial Volume (1833)
- Poems (1833)
- The Stolen Child (1833)
- Stories of the Study (3 volumes) (1833)
- Literary Life and Miscellanies (3 volumes) (1834)
- A Contribution to the Greenock
Greenock is a town and former burgh of barony in the Inverclyde council area of western Scotland. It forms part of a contiguous urban area with Gourock to the west and Port Glasgow to the east. Greenock lies within the Central Lowlands geographic area of Scotland.Greenock's population was...
Calamity Fund (1834)
- Efforts by an Invalid (1835)
- The Demon of Destiny and Other Poems (1839)
External links