Benjamin Sulte
Who was Benjamin Sulte?
President of the Royal Society of Canada (1841-1923)
Biographical data adapted from Wikipedia’s article on Benjamin Sulte (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Biography
Benjamin Sulte, originally baptized Olivier-Benjamin Vadeboncœur, was born on September 17, 1841, in Trois-Rivières, Lower Canada (now Quebec). His parents were Benjamin Sulte dit Vadeboncœur and Marie-Antoinette Lefebvre. He faced difficulties early on when his father passed away in 1847, leading him to leave school in 1851 at ten years old. To make a living, he took on various practical jobs, working in a dry goods shop, as a clerk in a grocery store, as a bookkeeper for lumber merchants, as a paymaster on a steamship, and as a shop owner along a Grand Trunk Railway line. These experiences shaped Sulte into a self-reliant individual, which influenced his extensive work as a writer and historian.
In 1861, Sulte joined the militia and eventually became a sergeant-major. His public and intellectual career took off in 1866 when he became the editor of Le Canada, a Conservative newspaper in Ottawa. In 1867, the year of Canadian Confederation, he began working as a translator at the House of Commons of Canada. In 1870, he took a job with the Department of Militia and Defence, where he was promoted to chief clerk in 1889, a position he held until he retired in 1903. In 1871, he married Augustine Parent, the daughter of the noted intellectual and civil servant Étienne Parent.
Despite his busy career as a civil servant, Sulte was incredibly productive with his writing. He penned poems and songs and focused much of his energy on researching and writing the history of French Canada. His major work, the Histoire des Canadiens-français, is a multi-volume book that remains one of the most detailed histories of French Canada written in the nineteenth century. This work earned him widespread recognition among Canadian scholars.
In 1882, Sulte became one of the founding members of the Royal Society of Canada and later served as its president from 1904 to 1905. In 1916, the University of Toronto honored his contributions to Canadian historical scholarship with an honorary Doctor of Laws degree. He passed away on August 6, 1923, in Ottawa, having spent many years shaping the understanding of French Canada's history. In 1928, he was named a Person of National Historic Significance, honoring the lasting importance of his work to Canadian cultural memory.
Before Fame
Benjamin Sulte's rise to prominence came from economic need and self-learning instead of formal education. After his father's death in 1847, his schooling ended in 1851. As a young man, he worked in different trades within the commercial world of mid-nineteenth century Quebec. His jobs in shops, on steamships, and along railway lines gave him real-world experience in Canada's economy and society during times of big change and growth.
When he joined the militia in 1861 and became the editor of Le Canada in 1866, he got involved in the intellectual and political issues of his time. The years around Canadian Confederation in 1867 were a period of strong national self-reflection, and Sulte, who then joined the House of Commons as a translator, found himself at the heart of these discussions. His bilingual abilities, self-taught knowledge, and growing interest in French-Canadian history set him on the path to becoming one of the most well-known historians of his era.
Key Achievements
- Authored the multi-volume Histoire des Canadiens-français, a foundational work in French-Canadian historiography
- Appointed a charter member of the Royal Society of Canada in 1882 and served as its president from 1904 to 1905
- Designated a Person of National Historic Significance in 1928 for his contributions to Canadian history
- Awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws by the University of Toronto in 1916
- Served as editor of the Ottawa Conservative newspaper Le Canada in 1866 and as a translator in the House of Commons beginning in 1867
Did You Know?
- 01.Sulte was baptized under the name Olivier-Benjamin Vadeboncœur, not the name by which he became publicly known.
- 02.He worked as a paymaster on a steamship before eventually becoming a respected government administrator and historian.
- 03.He married Augustine Parent in 1871, making him the son-in-law of Étienne Parent, one of the most influential French-Canadian journalists and thinkers of the nineteenth century.
- 04.Sulte was one of the charter members of the Royal Society of Canada when it was founded in 1882, and later served as its president from 1904 to 1905.
- 05.His Histoire des Canadiens-français spanned multiple volumes and was produced largely alongside a full-time career as a civil servant in the Department of Militia and Defence.
Awards & Honors
| Award | Year | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Person of National Historic Significance | 1928 | — |