Lampman, Archibald, 1861-1899

Archibald Lampman, poet and civil servant, was born on 17 November 1861 in Morpeth, County Kent, Ontario, the son of the Reverend Archibald Lampman and Susannah Charlotte Gesner. He attended a school at Gore's Landing, Ontario (run by Frederick William Barron), Cobourg Collegiate Institute, and Trinity College School, Port Hope, before entering the University of Trinity College, Toronto. He was Wellington Scholar, wrote for the College journal Rouge et Noir (predecessor of Trinity University Review) and was editor in his final year, 1881-82. Lampman was a member of the Trinity College Literary Institute and was Scribe of the two books of Episkopon (the reading of the Episkopon volumes was an annual ritual of the college) in 1881 and 1882. He also contributed to "The Week." He graduated with a BA in 1882. Lampman tried teaching but soon left that profession and entered the Canadian civil service in January of 1883 as a clerk in the Post Office Department.

In 1887 Lampman’s verse began to appear in magazines such as Scribner's, Harper's, Arcadia, Canadian Illustrated News, Atlantic Monthly, and Century. In 1888 he published his first volume, Among the Millet and Other Poems. From February 1892 to July 1893, Lampman, William Wilfred Campbell, and Duncan Campbell Scott wrote a Saturday column for the Toronto Globe titled "At the Mermaid Inn." He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1895, was a member of the Social Science Club in Ottawa and a member of the Fabian Society. He published a second volume, Lyrics of Earth (printed in 1895 and released in 1896) and a third, Alcyone, and other Poems, was in the press at the time of his death. It was held back by Duncan Campbell Scott in favour of a comprehensive memorial volume (1900).

Lampman married Maud Emma Playter on 3 September 1887, in Ottawa, and they had three children: Natalie Charlotte, Arnold Gesner, and Archibald Otto. He died on 10 February 1899 in Ottawa.

2010-11; revised 2021-06-30

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