Gilbert Parker - The Weavers: The Bestseller of 1907

Sir Horatio Gilbert George Parker, 1st Baronet PC, now better known as Gilbert Parker, was born on 23rd November 1862 at Camden East, Addington, Ontario.

Parker initial career path was as a teacher, initially at Marsh Hill and Bayside schools in Hastings County and then at the Ontario Institute for the Deaf and Dumb in Belleville before lecturing at Trinity College.

In 1886, he began to travel extensively, firstly to Australia, becoming the associate editor of the Sydney Morning Herald, and then across the Pacific, the South Sea Islands, Europe, Asia, Egypt and finally northern Canada.

By the early 1890s he had settled in London and was becoming known as a writer of romantic fiction.

Parker’s initial forays into novels were based on his knowledge of the history and life of the French Canadians. Indeed, his literary reputation is now enshrined in the fine descriptive and dramatic qualities of his Canadian stories.

In December 1895 he married a wealthy heiress, Miss Amy VanTine of New York City.

Parkers Canadian heritage and journeys to other parts of the British Empire had made him a devout Imperialist and contributed to a growing interest, and then election, as an MP in the British House of Commons as a Conservative member for Gravesend in 1900. He remained their MP until 1918.

In 1902 he was knighted by King Edward for his services to Canadian literature. Politically he made his reputation with work on Tariff Reform and Imperial Preference.

In 1907 ‘The Weavers’ was published to a phenomenal reception and became the best-selling book of that year.

Parker also became recognised for his poetry, in particular the sonnet ‘Reunited’. Sir Edward Elgar set three of his other poems: ‘Oh, soft was the song’, ‘Twilight’, ‘Was it some Golden Star?’ to music.

During World War I he helped organise British publicity toward the United States. He was created a baronet on 21st June 1915 and appointed as a Privy Councillor in 1916.

Much of Parker’s literary work was adapted and used for films in the infant movie business.

Gilbert Parker died in London, England on 6th September 1932.