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Robert T. Anderson
Born2 August 1880
Rapid City, Manitoba, Canada
Died3 April 1960 (aged 79)
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Occupation(s)Poet, health inspector, soldier, firefighter, commissionaire

Robert Thompson Anderson MM (2 August 1880 – 3 April 1960) was a Canadian poet, soldier, and public servant. Beginning in 1906, Anderson was a civic employee for 41 years in the city of Edmonton, working five years in the fire department and spending the remainder as a quarantine officer with the city health department. During this time he also wrote and published poetry in newspapers and in three books of his: The Old Timer and Other Poems (1909), Canadian Born and Other Western Verse (1913), and Troopers in France (1932).

Born in Manitoba, his family moved west in 1897 to British Columbia to settle in the Slocan Valley. It was here that he began writing and publishing his first poems, and became known as the "Bard of Lemon Creek" and "Kipling of the Kootenays". Anderson moved to Alberta in 1905 and began his career in public service, as well as serving for the duration of the First World War in the Canadian Light Horse.

Biography[edit]

Early life[edit]

Robert Thompson Anderson was born on the 2 August 1880 in Rapid City, Manitoba, Canada to William Anderson (1843-1925) and Jane Struthers (1840-1907) as one of four children. In 1897, the family had moved to British Columbia and settled in Lemon Creek, British Columbia in the Slocan Valley, with Anderson working at his brother's drug store while publishing his early poetry in local newspapers. In 1901, one of these poems was The Message of Grief, which dealt with the recent death of Queen Victoria and was praised in Toronto and Vancouver newspapers.[1] Anderson was sometimes referred to as the "Bard of Lemon Creek", and "Kipling of the Kootenays".[2]

Adulthood[edit]

In 1905 Anderson moved to Edmonton, Alberta initially working at the W.H. Clark lumber company before becoming the fourth member of staff with the Edmonton fire department in 1906.[1] It was while living in Edmonton that Anderson published his first book of poetry: The Old Timer & Other Rhymes in 1909 followed by Canadian Born and Other Western Verse in 1913.[3] These were the first actual books of poetry to be published in Alberta and are of a more northern sensibility in comparison to other contemporary western writers like Rhoda Sivell and Robert J.C. Stead. Some of his work also evoked local culture, with poems written in Scottish and French patois.[4] He continued to have poetry published in newspapers including the Edmonton Journal and Edmonton Bulletin.[1]

With the beginning of the First World War Anderson enlisted in the 19th Alberta Dragoons in 1914, despite now being thirty-four years old with a daughter he left in the care of his sister while he was away. Anderson served for the full duration of the war and received the Military Medal in 1916 for gallantry while on a reconnaissance patrol.[1] He was also promoted to Lance Corporal in 1918 but was later reverted to private at his own request.[2] He was discharged after the end of the war in 1919 and returned to the Health Department of the City of Edmonton as a quarantine officer.[1] In 1924 J.D. Logan and Donald G. French identified Anderson with the "Vaudeville School" of Canadian poetry, so named because in their view such poems had a melodramatic quality and appealed primarily to popular tastes.[5]

Anderson had continued writing poems during his service, and afterwards published his third and final book, Troopers in France in 1932 that collected his poems published during and after the war.[3] Described as being "filled with thoughtful and sometimes bitter poems about the tragedy of war" by historian Jonathan F. Vance, it sold poorly.[2][6] A member of the Edinburgh St Andrew's Society, he was elected honorary vice-president in 1929 and was also bard and historian of the Highland Games Association in Edmonton.[7][8]

Later years[edit]

He retired from his position as quarantine officer in 1947, and thereafter worked for the Corps of Commissionaires for eight years. Anderson died on 3 April 1960 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada at the age of seventy-nine and was buried in Westlawn Cemetery.[1]

Family[edit]

Anderson was married twice, first to Isabella Edith McGhee (1888-1913) in 1910 with whom he had one daughter, Clara Edith Anderson (1911-1933).[1] Isabella died in a fire in 1913, and Anderson remarried in 1919 to Margaret "Greta" McPherson Grant (1890-1979) a week after his return from the First World War.[2] They had two daughters and a son.[2]

Published works[edit]

  • The Old Timer and Other Poems (1909)
  • Canadian Born and Other Western Verse (1913)
  • Troopers in France (1932)

References/Notes and references[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g "Anderson family fonds". City of Edmonton Archives. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
  2. ^ a b c d e Nesteroff, Greg (27 June 2012). "The Kipling of the Kootenays". Route 3. Black Press Media Group. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
  3. ^ a b Peel, Bruce Braden; Ingles, Ernie B.; Distad, Norman Merrill (1 January 2003). Peel's Bibliography of the Canadian Prairies to 1953. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: University of Toronto Press. pp. 274, 317. ISBN 0-8020-4825-0. Retrieved 13 September 2023. Cite error: The named reference "Peel's Bibliography 2003" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  4. ^ Melnyk, George (1998). The Literary History of Alberta Volume One: From Writing-on-Stone to World War Two. Edmonton, Alberta, Canada: The University of Alberta Press. pp. 94–95. ISBN 0-88864-296-2. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
  5. ^ Logan, John Daniel; French, Donald Graham (1924). Highways of Canadian Literature: A Synoptic Introduction to the Literary History of Canada (English) from 1760 to 1924. McClelland & Stewart. p. 271.
  6. ^ Vance, Jonathan F. (1 Nov 2011). Death So Noble: Memory, Meaning, and the First World War. Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada: UBC Press. pp. 77, 222. ISBN 0-7748-0601-X. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
  7. ^ "Quarantine Officer Quits After 41 Years' Service". Edmonton Journal. Southam Newspapers. 3 Jul 1947.
  8. ^ "Edmonton Scot Highly Honored". Edmonton Journal. Southam Newspapers. 29 Nov 1929.

External links[edit]

"Lance Corporal Robert Thompson Anderson". Find a Grave. Retrieved 13 September 2023.


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