Thomas Chandler Haliburton

Thomas Chandler Haliburton (December 17, 1796 – August 27, 1865) was one of the first major Canadian authors.

Haliburton was born in Windsor, Nova Scotia to an upper class family. 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.

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 son Arthur (1832-1907) later became Arthur Haliburton, 1st Baron Haliburton.

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.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=4475 Biography at the "Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online"]
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* [http://ns1763.ca/hantsco/halibrtn.html Photos of 1937 plaque by Historic Sites and Monuments Board] [http://www.haliburtonclub.ca]
* [http://haliburton.museum.gov.ns.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.

Persondata
NAME= Haliburton, Thomas Chandler
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Canadian author
DATE OF BIRTH=December 17, 1796
PLACE OF BIRTH=Windsor, Nova Scotia, Canada
DATE OF DEATH=August 27, 1865
PLACE OF DEATH=