Thomas Chandler Haliburton

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Thomas Chandler Haliburton (1796-1865) was a Canadian judge and author who is chiefly known for his humorous sketches and essays. He was also the first Canadian writer to achieve a significant international reputation.

Born in Windsor, Nova Scotia, of loyalist stock, Thomas Haliburton was educated at King's College, Windsor, and was called to the bar of his native province in 1820. He began his law practice at Annapolis Royal and represented that constituency in the legislative assembly from 1826 to 1829. In the latter year he succeeded his father as a judge of the Court of Common Pleas. He became a judge of the Supreme Court in 1841 but in 1856 moved from Nova Scotia to England, where he became a member of Parliament in 1859. He died in Isleworth-on-Thames.

Haliburton began his literary career in 1823 by publishing an anonymous pamphlet entitled General Description of Nova Scotia. In 1829 he published a history of his province, A Historical and Statistical Account of Nova Scotia. His literary fame was established, however, by the publication of The Clockmaker; or, The Sayings and Doings of Sam Slick of Slickville, first as a series of sketches in Joseph Howe's magazine, the Novascotian, and then, in 1836, as a book.

This book is satire of a high order:it ridicules, chiefly in the person of Sam Slick, the itinerant Yankee clock salesman, the arrogance and sharp practices of Americans and at the same time pokes fun at the slothfulness, conservatism, and naiveté of his fellow Nova Scotians. The book was praised highly by reviewers in both the United States and the United Kingdom, and Sam Slick reappeared in later books by Haliburton - The Attaché; or, Sam Slick in England (1843-1844), Sam Slick's Wise Saws and Modern Instances (1853), and Nature and Human Nature (1853) - but lost some of his original luster.

Haliburton wrote a number of other books, including such serious political tracts as The Bubbles of Canada (1839), A Reply to the Report of the Earl of Durham (1839), and Rule and Misrule of the English in America (1851). The best of his later books, however, were three further collections of humorous sketches, The Letter-Bag of the Great Western (1840), The Old Judge; or, Life in a Colony (1849), and The Season Ticket (1860). Haliburton also edited two popular anthologies of American humor: Traits of American Humour by Native Authors (1852) and The American at Home; or, Bye-ways, Back-woods and Prairies (1855).

Haliburton's political position can best be described as that of a Tory radical:deeply conservative by nature, he was nevertheless quite ready to challenge the establishment. His most enduring achievements were, however, his comical portraits of persons, his shrewdly witty anecdotes, and his droll "tall tales."

Further Reading

The best book on Haliburton is still V. L. O. Chittick, Thomas Chandler Haliburton (1924). See also the sections on Haliburton in Ray Palmer Baker, History of English-Canadian Literature to the Confederation (1920); Desmond Pacey, Creative Writing in Canada (2d ed. 1961); and Carl F. Klinck, ed., Literary History of Canada (1965).

Additional Sources

Percy, H. R., Thomas Chandler Haliburton, Don Mills, Ont.: Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 1980.

Quotes:

"Don't stand shivering upon the bank; plunge in at once, and have it over."

"Every woman is wrong until she cries, and then she is right; immediately."

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, 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.

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

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

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• 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

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

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