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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 1856. In that same year he married Sarah Harriet Owen Williams. In 1859, Haliburton was elected the Member of Parliament for Launceston as a member of the Tory minority and did not stand for relection 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.
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