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John Galt (1779-1839), Novelist

Sitter in 3 portraits
A prolific Scottish novelist admired for his depiction of country life. From 1824 he worked for the Canada Company, established to aid the colonisation of Upper Canada. He opened up a road between Lakes Huron and Erie through the forest country and founded the city of Guelph in Upper Canada (now Ontario) in 1827. Galt was dismissed in 1829 for his lack of accounting skills and failure to carry out the company's policies. He returned to Britain in 1829, and devoted himself entirely to literature. His masterpieces, novels of Scottish rural life, are The Ayrshire Legatees (1820), The Annals of the Parish (1821), Sir Andrew Wylie (1822), The Provost (1822) and The Entail (1823).

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John Galt

by William Brockedon
chalk, 1834
NPG 2515(37)


John Galt

after Daniel Maclise
pen and ink, (published 1830)
NPG D34534


John Galt

by Robert Graves, after John or James Irvine
line engraving, published 1833
NPG D13822