The New International Encyclopædia/Parker, (Horatio) Gilbert

PARKER, Sir (1862&mdash;). A Canadian novelist, born at Camden East, Addington, Ontario. He studied pedagogy in Ottawa and taught in Frankford and Seaforth. He studied for the ministry at Trinity University, Toronto, held a curacy at Trenton for a short time, and taught in the Belleville Deaf and Dumb Institute, but in 1880 went for his health to Australia. There he took up journalistic work and the writing or adapting of plays, but after his return to Canada was principally known as a writer of romances and short stories, such as Pierre and His People (1892); Mrs. Falchion (1893); The Translation of a Savage (1894); When Valmond Came to Poutiac (1895); The Seats of the Mighty (1896); The Battle of the Strong (1898); The Lane that Had no Turning (1900); The Right of Way (1901); and Donovan Pasha (1902). He made his home in England, was elected Conservative member of Parliament for Gravesend in 1900, and was knighted in 1902. The dramatic quality of his later books won for them considerable popularity, despite their disregard of truth in local color.