The New Student's Reference Work/Parker, Col. Sir Gilbert, M. P.

Par′ker, Col. Sir Gilbert, M. P., Anglo-Canadian novelist and since 1900 English member of Parliament, was born in Canada, Nov. 23, 1862, and educated at Trinity University, Toronto, from which he holds the degree of D. C. L. He was trained to journalism in Australia, whither he proceeded in 1886 when in indifferent health, and there first began his literary and powerful dramatic work. This consisted of an adaptation of Goethe's Faust for the stage, a drama entitled The Vendetta and a book of travel—Around the Compass in Australia. Removing to England, he there entered on an active and successful literary career in writing stories and novels of French Canada and the Canadian Northwest and doing for the romantic side of Canadian life what Kipling has done for England. His subsequent work deals with life in Egypt and the Channel Islands. Sir Gilbert is an ardent Imperialist. His novels include Pierre and his People, Mrs. Falchion, The Trespasser, When Valmond Came to Pontiac, The Seats of the Mighty, which has also been dramatized, The Pomp of the Lavilattes, The Battle of the Strong, The Right of Way, The Trail of the Sword, The Translation of a Savage, Donovan Pasha, A Ladder of Swords, a play, The Wedding Day, and a History of Old Quebec. His latest novel, The Weavers, appeared in 1907, and is a romance of England and Egypt.