Bertrand William Sinclair
Bertrand William Sinclair, originally named William Brown Sinclair, was a notable Scottish-born Canadian author, born in Edinburgh in 1881. He immigrated to Regina, Saskatchewan, with his mother in 1889 and later pursued a life as a cowboy in Montana, which significantly influenced his writing. Sinclair began his literary career in 1902, contributing articles and stories to various magazines. He achieved considerable success with his novels, particularly in the early 20th century, with works like *Poor Man's Rock* (1920) and *Big Timber* (1916), which explored themes related to the rugged life of loggers, ranchers, and coastal fishers in British Columbia.
Over his prolific career, Sinclair wrote fifteen novels, numerous short stories, and poems, reflecting the societal changes in the industries he depicted. He also ventured into commercial fishing, which shaped his later works and personal life. Sinclair's narratives often integrated human character with environmental settings, illustrating the struggles and dynamics of life in the Canadian West. His legacy includes adaptations of several novels into silent films and an extensive biography, showcasing the multifaceted life and impact of this diverse writer.
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Subject Terms
Bertrand William Sinclair
- Born: January 9, 1881
- Birthplace: Edinburgh, Scotland
- Died: October 20, 1972
Biography
Author Bertrand William Sinclair was born William Brown Sinclair to George Bertrand and Robina Williamson Sinclair in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1881. Bertrand Sinclair immigrated with his mother to Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, in 1889. At the age of fourteen, he left home to be a cowboy in Montana. Based on his ranching and range-riding experiences in Montana, Sinclair published his first article in the San Francisco Argonaut in 1902, followed by numerous fictional stories that appeared in a variety of magazines over the next several years. In 1905, Sinclair and novelist Bertha M. Bower were wed. They had one daughter. After they moved to San Francisco in 1907, Sinclair wrote two western novels, Raw Gold (1908) and The Land of the Frozen Suns (1910).
Shortly after divorcing his first wife in 1911, Sinclair married her cousin Ruth. They moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, in 1912, where they reared a daughter. Sinclair began writing stories and novels about loggers, fishermen, and ranchers that centered on life in British Columbia. After observing logging operations around Harrison Lake for over three years, he published Big Timber: A Story of the Northwest (1916). As his writing popularity grew, four editions of Burned Bridges (1919) were released within four months. A few silent movies were based on Sinclair’s novels, including Big Timber (1917), North of Fifty-Three (1917), and The Raiders (1921).
In 1920, Sinclair published his most famous work, Poor Man’s Rock, which sold more than eighty thousand copies. A romance centered around family pride and unfair corporate practices in the fishing industry, Sinclair extracted the title from the name of a rock off the coast of Lasqueti Island. In 1922, he published The Hidden Places, a compelling romance that examines some consequences of World War I. Later that year, he purchased property along the British Columbia coast at Pender Harbour and established his home there in 1923. He spent a great deal of his time on his thirty-seven-foot troll boat that he named Hoo Hoo. His writings became focused on the relationship between human character and the environment.
The failure of the Dominion Trust Company inspired Sinclair’s novel The Inverted Pyramid in 1924. From 1932 until 1964, Sinclair devoted a major portion of his time to commercial fishing. In 1936, he published an adventure portraying rum-running practices during the Prohibition, Down the Dark Alley. Until 1940, he spent time during the winter writing numerous short stories and novelettes that were published in numerous magazines, including The Blue Mule, Popular Magazine, The Bohemian, Short Stories Magazine, Adventure Magazine, and Far West Stories. After 1940, in addition to commercial fishing, he published numerous poems in the Fisherman. In the early 1950’s, he returned to novel writing and published three westerns, Both Sides of the Law (1951), Room for the Rolling M (1954), and The Man Who Rode by Himself (1958).
A prolific and diverse writer, Sinclair wrote fifteen novels, numerous novelettes and poems, and hundreds of short stories. His writings revealed the changing times and challenges that were evolving in the ranching, logging, fishing, and mining industries during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. After years of research, Betty Keller wrote an in-depth biography of Sinclair titled Pender Harbour Cowboy: The Many Lives of Bertrand Sinclair (2000).