Stephen Leacock (1869-1944)
Professor Stephen Butler Leacock, of Montreal; Humorist & Political Scientist
He was born in Hampshire, England, and was named for his maternal grandfather, Rev. Stephen Butler, of Bury Lodge, Hambledon (Hampshire), brother of Sir Thomas Dacres Butler, Usher of the Black Rod. The Leacock family had made their fortune in Leacock's Madeira wine (founded in 1760) and he also enjoyed his connection to his mother's half-brother, Major Thomas Adair Butler, who won the Victoria Cross at the Siege and capture of Lucknow in India. Shortly after Leacock was born, his parents emigrated to Canada and bought a farm. It was not successful, but the family was propped up by Leacock's paternal grandfather (who retired from Madeira to the Isle of Wight) who paid for him to be educated at Upper Canada College in Toronto.
He matriculated at the University of Toronto, but after his father abandoned the family he was forced to leave. A few years later, he was to able continue his graduate studies at the University of Chicago under Thorstein Veblen, where he received a doctorate in political science and political economy. He then moved from Chicago to Montreal where he eventually became the William Dow Professor of Political Economy and long-time Chair of the Department of Economics and Political Science at McGill University.
He was well-known for poking fun at wealthy financiers and famously satirized the Mount Royal Club on Montreal's Sherbrooke Street as "The Mauseleum Club" on "Plutoria Avenue" in his book Arcadian Adventures With The Idle Rich (1914). Leacock enjoyed inside access to those who stepped the corridors of power in Canada, notably through his wife, a niece of Sir Henry Pellatt who ruined himself building Casa Loma in Toronto.
In 1899, he married actress "Trix" Hamilton and they had one son, Stephen. Leacock was devastated when she died of breast cancer, and having started their marriage in poverty, she never got to see the summer cottage (see images) that he completed at Orillia, Ontario - which bore a certain similarity to his maternal grandfather's house in Hampshire. After Trix's death, he was supported by his favourite niece (his sister's daughter), Barbara, "the daughter he never had" who also helped him with much of his secretarial work.
He matriculated at the University of Toronto, but after his father abandoned the family he was forced to leave. A few years later, he was to able continue his graduate studies at the University of Chicago under Thorstein Veblen, where he received a doctorate in political science and political economy. He then moved from Chicago to Montreal where he eventually became the William Dow Professor of Political Economy and long-time Chair of the Department of Economics and Political Science at McGill University.
He was well-known for poking fun at wealthy financiers and famously satirized the Mount Royal Club on Montreal's Sherbrooke Street as "The Mauseleum Club" on "Plutoria Avenue" in his book Arcadian Adventures With The Idle Rich (1914). Leacock enjoyed inside access to those who stepped the corridors of power in Canada, notably through his wife, a niece of Sir Henry Pellatt who ruined himself building Casa Loma in Toronto.
In 1899, he married actress "Trix" Hamilton and they had one son, Stephen. Leacock was devastated when she died of breast cancer, and having started their marriage in poverty, she never got to see the summer cottage (see images) that he completed at Orillia, Ontario - which bore a certain similarity to his maternal grandfather's house in Hampshire. After Trix's death, he was supported by his favourite niece (his sister's daughter), Barbara, "the daughter he never had" who also helped him with much of his secretarial work.
