Robert Barr

Robert Barr (16 September 1849 – 21 October 1912) was a Scottish-Canadian short story writer and novelist who also worked as a newspaper and magazine editor.

Early years in Canada

Barr was born in Glasgow, Scotland, to Robert Barr and Jane Watson. In 1854, he emigrated with his parents to Upper Canada. His family settled on a farm near the village of Muirkirk. Barr assisted his father with his work as a carpenter and builder and was a teacher in Kent County, then in 1873 entered the Toronto Normal School.

After graduating, he taught in Walkerville and in 1874 became headmaster of the Central School at Windsor in 1874. The magazine was very successful. This was also very successful. Barr stepped down as co-editor in 1894, but in 1902 became the sole proprietor and returned as editor. and followed it in 1894 with "The Adventure of the Second Swag". His 1906 novel The triumphs of Eugène Valmont parodies Holmes and other "gentleman detectives" whose pompous sleuth is a possible antecedent of Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot. Despite his Holmes satires, he remained on very good terms with Conan Doyle, who described him in the 1920s in his memoir Memories and Adventures as "a volcanic Anglo—or rather Scot-American, with a violent manner, a wealth of strong adjectives, and one of the kindest natures underneath it all". Barr himself wrote several humorous articles about being a writer, including in 1899 "Literature in Canada", where he described it as a country whose "average citizen ... loves whiskey better than books".

Honors In 1900, Barr was awarded an honorary degree by the University of Michigan. One Day's Courtship and the Heralds of Fame (1896) Cardillac