Thomas Chandler Haliburton
Encyclopedia
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. He was also significant in the history of Nova Scotia
History of Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is a Canadian province located in Canada's Maritimes. The region was initially occupied by Mi'kmaq. During the first 150 years of European settlement, the colony was primarily made up of Catholic Acadians and Mi'kmaq...
.
Life
Haliburton was born in Windsor, Nova ScotiaWindsor, Nova Scotia
Windsor is a town located in Hants County, Mainland 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 3,779 and was at one time the shire town of the county. The region encompassing present day Windsor was...
, the son of William Hersey Otis Haliburton
William Hersey Otis Haliburton
William 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....
, a lawyer, judge and political figure, and Lucy Chandler Grant. His mother died when he was a small child, and his father remarried when he was seven, giving him as stepmother Susanna Davis, the daughter of Michael Francklin
Michael Francklin
Michael Francklin or Franklin served as Nova Scotia's Lieutenant Governor from 1766-1772.Born in Poole, England, Francklin immigrated to Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1752. He worked as a trader and merchant, initially in association with Joshua Maugher...
, who had been Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
's Lieutenant Governor
Lieutenant governor
A lieutenant governor or lieutenant-governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction, but is often the deputy or lieutenant to or ranking under a governor — a "second-in-command"...
. He attended University of King's College
University of King's College
The University of King's College is a post-secondary institution in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. King's is a small liberal arts university offering mainly undergraduate programs....
in Windsor and became a lawyer, opening a practice in Annapolis Royal
Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia
Annapolis Royal is a town located in the western part of Annapolis County, Nova Scotia. Known as Port Royal until the Conquest of Acadia in 1710 by Britain, the town is the oldest continuous European settlement in North America, north of St...
, the former capital of the colony.
Haliburton became a noted local businessman and a judge, but his great fame came from his writing. He wrote a number of books on history, politics, and farm improvement. He rose to international fame with his Clockmaker serial, which first appeared in the Novascotian
Novascotian
The 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 Empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It 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...
. The books recounted the humorous adventures of the character Sam Slick
Sam Slick
Sam 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 Assembly
Nova Scotia House of Assembly
The 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 Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for Launceston
Launceston (UK Parliament constituency)
Launceston, 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...
, Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
as a member of the Tory
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
minority; he did not stand for re-election in 1865.
Haliburton received an honorary degree
Honorary degree
An honorary degree or a degree honoris causa is an academic degree for which a university has waived the usual requirements, such as matriculation, residence, study, and the passing of examinations...
from Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
for service to literature and continued writing until his death on 27 August 1865, at his home in Isleworth
Isleworth
Isleworth is a small town of Saxon origin sited within the London 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. Isleworth's original area of settlement, alongside the Thames, is known as...
, near London.
Family
While in England, Thomas Chandler Haliburton met Louisa Neville, daughter of Captain Laurence Neville, of the Eighth Light Dragoons, whom he married in 1816 and brought back to Nova ScotiaNova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
. Her story before marriage is related in the "Haliburton Chaplet," edited by their son, Robert Grant Haliburton (Toronto: 1899). The couple had two sons and five daughters:
- Susannah Lucy Anne, later Weldon, 1817-1899, ceramic collector
- Mrs. A. F. Haliburton
- Mrs. Bainbridge Smith
- Amelia (Jul 25, 1829-Jan 14, 1902), landscape artist, married the Rev. Edwin Gilpin, Dean of Nova Scotia, in 1849; the couple had four sons and one daughter, including Edwin Gilpin (1850-1907), a mining engineer and author
- Robert Grant Haliburton, Q.C., D.C.L., 1831-1901, lawyer, author, and anthropologist
- Arthur (1832–1907), later 1st Baron HaliburtonArthur Haliburton, 1st Baron HaliburtonArthur Lawrence Haliburton, 1st Baron Haliburton GCB DL was a Canadian-born British civil servant.-Background and education:...
, G.C.B., civil servant - Laura Charlotte, artist, married William Cunard, son of the shipping magnate Sir Samuel CunardSamuel CunardSir Samuel Cunard, 1st Baronet was a British shipping magnate, born at Halifax, Nova Scotia, who founded the Cunard Line...
at Windsor, Nova Scotia, 30 December 1851; three sons, one daughter. Exhibited her pictures at the Royal AcademyRoyal AcademyThe Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly, London. The Royal Academy of Arts has a unique position in being an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and...
, the Gallery of British Artists, and at other institutions in London.
Louisa died in 1840, and was buried at Windsor. Haliburton married a second time in 1856, to Sarah Harriet Owen Williams, and died in England.
Legacy
Haliburton County, Ontario, is named after Haliburton in recognition of his work as the first chair of the Canadian Land and Emigration CompanyCanadian Land and Emigration Company
In 1859, the Crown Lands Department in Province of Canada advertised a block of land for sale in Haliburton County. The purpose for the sale of the land was to promote rapid settlement of the newly created townships in the district through private enterprise...
.
In 1884, faculty and students at his alma mater founded a literary society
Literary society
A 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 Commonwealth of Nations
Commonwealth of Nations
The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...
or North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
.
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.
A memorial to Thomas and his first wife was erected in 1902 in Christ Church, Windsor, by four of their children: Laura Cunard, Lord Haliburton, and two surviving sisters.
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
- Sam Slick's Wise Saws and Modern Instances - 1853
- Nature and Human Nature - 1855
External links
- Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
- Photos of 1937 plaque by Historic Sites and Monuments Board
- The Haliburton Club
- Haliburton House Museum Museum dedicated to the life, writings and time period of T. C. Haliburton. Part of the Nova Scotia Museum.