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Sir Gilbert Parker

GILBERT PARKER, British novelist, was born at Camden East, Addington, Ontario, on the 23d of November, 1862. He was educated at Ottawa and at Trinity University, Toronto. At one time he lived in Australia, and while there was editor of "The Sydney Herald." In the early 'nineties he began to make a reputation as a writer of romantic fiction.

He took for the subject of some of the most important of his stories the history and life of the French Canadians. His reputation rests largely on the fine descriptive and dramatic quality of these Canadian stories. "Pierre and His People" was followed by "The Trail of the Sword," "When Valmond Came to Pontiac," "An Adventurer of the North," and "The Seats of the Mighty" (dramatized in 1897).

The scene of "The Battle of the Strong" is laid in the Channel Islands. Parker's chief later books are "The Right of Way," published in 1901, "Donovan Pasha," "The Ladder of Swords," and others. "The Right of Way" is the story of a man who tried to "come back" after making a failure of his life. Parker's Canadian connections and his experiences in Australia and elsewhere made him a strong imperialist in politics. He was elected to Parliament in 1900 (re-elected 1906-10) as Conservative member from Gravesend. In 1902 Parker was knighted, and he strengthened his position in the party by his energetic work on behalf of the tariff reform.