Page 83 - DENG203_ELECTIVE_ENGLISH_IV

Elective English—IV

Notes Wight, a land that his grandfather had bought after returning from Madeira where his family
had made a wealth out of plantations and Leacock’s Madeira wine, founded in 1760. Stephen’s
mother, Agnes, born at Soberton was the youngest daughter by his second wife Caroline Linton
Palmer of the Rev. Stephen Butler, of Bury Lodge, the Butler estate that overlooked the village
of Hambledon, Hampshire. Stephen Butler, after whom Leacock was named, was the brother of
Sir Thomas Dacres Butler and maternal grandson of Admiral James Richard Dacres. Leacock’s
mother, Agnes was the half-sister of Major Thomas Adair Butler and Major Thomas had acquired
the Victoria Cross during the Indian Mutiny.
Peter’s father, Thomas Murdock Leacock J.P., had by this time made plans to ultimately send his
son out to the colonies. However after discovering that at age eighteen Peter had married Agnes
Butler without his permission, virtually instantly Thomas shipped them out to South Africa where
he had bought them a farm. The farm in South Africa was unsuccessful and Stephen’s parents
returned to Hampshire, where he was born. At the age of six, Stephen moved with his family
to Canada. In Canada they settled on a farm near the village of Sutton, Ontario, and the shores
of Lake Simcoe. Their farm in the town of Georgina in York County also failed, and the family
was kept supported by finances sent from Leacock’s paternal grandfather. His father became
an alcoholic and in the fall of 1878, he journeyed west to Manitoba with his brother E.P. Leacock
leaving behind Agnes and the children. This is the subject of Stephen’s book My Remarkable
Uncle, published in 1942.

Stephen Leacock, always of understandable intelligence, was sent by his grandfather to the
elite private school of Upper Canada College in Toronto which was also attended by his elder
brothers. Here he topped and in his class and was chosen the head boy. After graduating in 1887
Leacock returned home and found that his father had returned from Manitoba. Soon after that,
Stephen’s father left the family again never to return. There is disagreement about what happened
to Peter Leacock. Some people suggest that he went to live in Argentina, while other sources
show that he relocated to Nova Scotia and changed his name to Lewis.
Seventeen-year-old Leacock started at University College at the University of Toronto in 1887,
where he was admitted to the Zeta Psi fraternity. His first year was financed by a small scholarship,
but Leacock found he could not return to his studies the next year because of financial problems.
He left the university to work as a teacher — an occupation he totally disliked — at
Strathroy, Uxbridge and finally in Toronto. As a teacher at Upper Canada College, he was able
to simultaneously attend classes at the University of Toronto. In 1891, Leacock earned his degree
through part-time studies. During this time Stephen’s first writing was published in The Varsity,
a campus newspaper.

Task Make a list of Stephen Leacock’s works.

5.1.2 Academic and Political Life

Disheartened with teaching, in 1899 Leacock began graduate studies at the University of
Chicago under Thorstein Veblen, where he got a doctorate in political economy and political
science. He moved from Chicago, Illinois to Montreal, Quebec, where he ultimately became
the William Dow Professor of Political Economy and long-time chair of the Department of
Economics and Political Science at McGill University.

He was closely related to Sir Arthur Currie, former commander of the Canadian Corps in
the Great War and principal of McGill from 1919 till his death in 1933. In fact, Currie had been a
student seeing Leacock’s practice teaching in Strathroy in 1888. In 1936, Stephen was by force
retired by the McGill Board of Governors—a doubtful prospect had Currie lived.

78 LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY