William Kirby

William Kirby (13 October 1817 – 23 June 1906) was a Canadian author, best known for his classic historical novel, The Golden Dog.

Life Born in Yorkshire, England, Kirby immigrated with his parents to the United States in 1832, and then to Canada in 1839. After visiting Toronto, Montreal, and Quebec City, he settled in Niagara, Ontario, where his house still stands.

Kirby practised as a tanner until his marriage with Eliza Madeline Whitmore, with whom he had three children (one of whom died in infancy.) For more than twenty years, Kirby was the editor of the Niagara Mail (1850–1871) which he purchased from the founder in 1850. From 1871 to 1895, he was a collector of customs at Niagara,

Sometime later, Kirby was approached by L.C. Page and Company, a publishing company from Boston, with an offer of publishing a revised version of The Golden Dog. Kirby accepted this offer and revised the book, making corrections to the book in accordance with new developments in Quebec's history.

Publications The U. E.: a tale of Upper Canada. (Niagara, 1859), a poem in Spenserian stanzas. The Golden Dog. (New York and Montreal, 1877) The Golden Dog. (Revised. Boston: L.C. Page, 1896) Memoirs of the Servos family. (Toronto, 1884) Canadian Idylls. (Welland, Ontario, 1894) Annals of Niagara. (Lundy's Lane Historical Society, 1896) (Stratford, ON: Macmillan, 1927)