Thomas Chandler Haliburton
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Thomas Chandler Haliburton (December 17, 1796 – August 27, 1865) was one of the first major Canadian authors.
Haliburton was born in Windsor, Nova Scotia, the son of William Hersey Otis Haliburton and Lucy Chandler Grant. He attended University of King's College in Windsor and became a lawyer, opening a practice in Annapolis Royal. While in England, he met Louisa Neville, whom he married in 1816 and brought back to Nova Scotia. 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 Novascotian and was later published in book form throughout the British Empire. The books recounted the humorous adventures of the character Sam Slick and became extremely popular light reading.
From 1826 to 1829, Haliburton represented Annapolis County in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly.
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 Parliament for Launceston, Cornwall as a member of the Tory minority; he did not stand for re-election in 1865.
Haliburton received an honorary degree from Oxford for service to literature and continued writing until his death in 1865 at his home in Isleworth.
In 1884, faculty and students at King's College, Windsor, founded a literary society 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 America.
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 Haliburton.
[edit] 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
[edit] External links
 |
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Thomas Chandler Haliburton |
- Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
- Works by Thomas Chandler Haliburton at Project Gutenberg
- Photos of 1937 plaque by Historic Sites and Monuments Board
- 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.
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Hon. Josceline Percy |
Member of Parliament for Launceston 1859–1865 |
Succeeded by Alexander Henry Campbell |
