Thomas Chandler Haliburton (December 17, 1796 – August 27, 1865) was one of the first major
CanadianCanada 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...
authors.
Haliburton was born in
Windsor, Nova ScotiaWindsor is a small town located in central Nova Scotia at the junction of the Avon and St. Croix Rivers. It is the largest community in western Hants County with a 2001 population of 3,778 and was at one time the shire town of the county....
, the son of
William Hersey Otis HaliburtonWilliam Hersey Otis Haliburton was a lawyer, judge and political figure in Nova Scotia. He represented the town of Windsor from 1806 to 1811 and Hants County from 1811 to 1826....
and Lucy Chandler Grant. He attended
University of King's CollegeThe University of King's College is a post-secondary institution in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. King's is a small liberal arts university offering only undergraduate programs....
in Windsor and became a lawyer, opening a practice in
Annapolis RoyalAnnapolis Royal is a Canadian town located in the western part of Annapolis County, Nova Scotia. Known as Port-Royal to France until being renamed in 1710 by Britain, the town is located in an area that claims to have the second oldest continuous European settlement in North America after St...
. While in
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 met Louisa Neville, whom he married in 1816 and brought back to
Nova ScotiaNova Scotia is a Canadian province located on Canada's southeastern coast. It is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. Its capital, Halifax, is a major economic centre of the region. Nova Scotia is the second-smallest province in Canada with an area of...
. Louisa died in 1840.
Haliburton became noted local business man and a judge, but his great fame came from his writing.
Thomas Chandler Haliburton (December 17, 1796 – August 27, 1865) was one of the first major
CanadianCanada 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...
authors.
Haliburton was born in
Windsor, Nova ScotiaWindsor is a small town located in central Nova Scotia at the junction of the Avon and St. Croix Rivers. It is the largest community in western Hants County with a 2001 population of 3,778 and was at one time the shire town of the county....
, the son of
William Hersey Otis HaliburtonWilliam Hersey Otis Haliburton was a lawyer, judge and political figure in Nova Scotia. He represented the town of Windsor from 1806 to 1811 and Hants County from 1811 to 1826....
and Lucy Chandler Grant. He attended
University of King's CollegeThe University of King's College is a post-secondary institution in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. King's is a small liberal arts university offering only undergraduate programs....
in Windsor and became a lawyer, opening a practice in
Annapolis RoyalAnnapolis Royal is a Canadian town located in the western part of Annapolis County, Nova Scotia. Known as Port-Royal to France until being renamed in 1710 by Britain, the town is located in an area that claims to have the second oldest continuous European settlement in North America after St...
. While in
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 met Louisa Neville, whom he married in 1816 and brought back to
Nova ScotiaNova Scotia is a Canadian province located on Canada's southeastern coast. It is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. Its capital, Halifax, is a major economic centre of the region. Nova Scotia is the second-smallest province in Canada with an area of...
. Louisa died in 1840.
Haliburton became noted local business man and a judge, but his great fame came from his writing. He wrote a diverse number of books on history, politics, and farm improvement. He rose to world wide fame with his
Clockmaker serial that first appeared in the
NovascotianThe Novascotian was a newspaper published in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.The paper was founded as the Nova Scotian or Colonial Herald, by George R. Young, in 1824...
and was later published in book form throughout the
British EmpireThe British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom, that had originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height it was...
. The books recounted the humorous adventures of the character
Sam SlickSam Slick was a character created by Thomas Chandler Haliburton, a Canadian judge and author. With his wry wit and Yankee voice, Sam Slick of Slicksville put forward his views on "human nature" in a regular column in the Novascotian, beginning in 1835...
and became extremely popular light reading.
From 1826 to 1829, Haliburton represented Annapolis County in the
Nova Scotia House of AssemblyThe Nova Scotia Legislature, consisting of Her Majesty The Queen represented by the Lieutenant Governor and the House of Assembly, is the legislative branch of the provincial government of Nova Scotia, Canada...
.
Haliburton retired from law and moved to England in 1856. In that same year he married Sarah Harriet Owen Williams. In 1859, Haliburton was elected the
Member of ParliamentA Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a parliament. In many countries the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a unique title, such as senate, and thus also have unique titles for its members, such as senators. Members of...
for
LauncestonLaunceston, also known at some periods as Dunheved, was a parliamentary constituency in Cornwall which returned two Members of Parliament to the British House of Commons from 1295 until 1832, and one member from 1832 until 1918...
,
CornwallCornwall is a county of England in the United Kingdom, forming the tip of the south-western peninsula of Great Britain. It is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic Ocean, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Taken with the...
as a member of the
ToryThe Conservative and Unionist Party, more commonly known as the Conservatives, the Conservative Party, or Tory Party is a conservative political party in the United Kingdom...
minority; he did not stand for re-election in 1865.
Haliburton received an
honorary degreeAn honorary degree or a degree honoris causa is an academic degree for which a university has waived the usual requirements...
from
OxfordThe University of Oxford , located in the UK city of Oxford, is the oldest surviving university in the English-speaking world and is regarded as one of the world's leading academic institutions. Although the exact date of foundation remains unclear, there is evidence of teaching there as far back...
for service to literature and continued writing until his death in 1865 at his home in
IsleworthIsleworth is a small, affluent town of Saxon origin sited within the Borough of Hounslow in west London, England. It lies immediately east of the town of Hounslow and west of the River Thames and its tributary the River Crane....
.
In 1884, faculty and students at King's College, Windsor, founded a
literary societyA literary society is a group of people interested in literature. In the modern sense, this refers to a society that wants to promote one genre of literature or a specific writer. Modern literary societies typically promote research about their chosen author or genre, publish newsletters, and hold...
in honour of the College's most celebrated man of letters. The Haliburton Club, still active at King's College, Halifax, is now the longest-standing collegial literary society in the British Commonwealth and
North AmericaNorth America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific...
.
His comment of him remembering "playing hurley on the ice" is the first known reference to hockey in Canada and is the basis of Windsor's claim to being the town that fathered hockey.
His son Arthur (1832-1907) later became
Arthur Haliburton, 1st Baron HaliburtonArthur Lawrence Haliburton, 1st Baron Haliburton GCB DL was a British civil servant.He was born in Windsor, Nova Scotia, Canada, the son of Thomas Chandler Haliburton and Louisa Neville....
.
Works
- A General Description of Nova Scotia - 1823
- An Historical and Statistical Account of Nova Scotia - 1829
- The Clockmaker - 1836
- The Clockmaker, 2nd Series - 1838
- The Bubbles of Canada - 1839
- A]] Reply to the Report of the Earl of Durham - 1839
- The Clockmaker, 3rd Series - 1840
- The Old Judge, Or Life in a Colony - 1849
- The English in America - 1851
- Rule and Misrule in English America - 1851
- Nature and Human Nature - 1855
External links
http://www.haliburtonclub.ca
- Haliburton House Museum Museum dedicated to the life, writings and time period of T. C. Haliburton. Includes many special events during the museum season. Part of the Nova Scotia Museum.