Julia Catherine Beckwith (Hart)
Canada’s first native-born novelist
Julia Catherine Beckwith (1796-1867) is credited as being Canada’s first native-born novelist, whose novel was actually published in Canada. Her path to publication was far from easy, but her story is one of perseverance, literary conviction, and quiet historical significance.
Julia was born in Fredericton, New Brunswick, the daughter of Nehemiah Beckwith and Julie-Louise Lebrun de Duplessis. Her parents were Methodists, though her mother had been raised Catholic before converting. This mix of religious traditions – particularly the tension between Catholic and Protestant identity – would later inspire her first novel.
At seventeen, Julia completed St. Ursula’s Convent, or The Nun of Canada; Containing Scenes from Real Life. The story was set in a fictional Catholic convent in Quebec and echoed many of the themes that fascinated 19th-century readers: faith, secrecy, moral testing, and womanhood. But despite her early effort, the book wouldn’t be published for more than a decade.
In 1820, Julia moved to Kingston, Upper Canada, to live with her aunt. There she met and married George Henry Hart, an English immigrant and professional bookbinder. Their shared interest in literature and education led them to open a bilingual girls’ boarding school, one of the first of its kind in the area. They offered instruction in English and French – a reflection of both Julia’s upbringing and her literary ambitions.
Finally, in 1824, St. Ursula’s Convent was published by Kingston printer Hugh C. Thomson. At Julia’s request, it appeared anonymously, and only 165 copies were printed. The novel was complex and layered, which may have contributed to its lukewarm critical reception at the time. Most of the copies vanished over the years – making surviving editions today extremely rare and highly valuable.
After a move to Rochester, New York, Julia published a second novel in 1840 titled Tonnewonte; or, The Adopted Son of America: A Tale Containing Scenes from Real Life. Again, she chose anonymity – signing herself simply as ‘an American’. The book received little attention, though it offered unique insights into early Canadian–American cultural exchanges.
Later, Julia returned to Fredericton, where her husband found work in the New Brunswick Crown Lands Office. She completed a third novel, Edith, or The Doom, but it was never published and the manuscript has been lost.
She died in Fredericton in 1867 at the age of 71 – unheralded at the time, but now recognized as a pioneer in Canadian letters.
The title page and original proposal for St. Ursula’s Convent, written by Julia Catherine Beckwith at age seventeen and published anonymously in Kingston, Upper Canada, in 1824.
Julia Catherine Beckwith – At a Glance
• Born: 1796, Fredericton, New Brunswick
• First novel: St. Ursula’s Convent (written 1813, published 1824)
• Claim to fame: First Canadian-born author to have a novel published in Canada
• Marriage: George Henry Hart, English bookbinder
• Career: Educator; co-ran a bilingual girls’ school in Kingston
• Later work: Tonnewonte (published in the U.S., 1840); Edith, or The Doom (unpublished)
• Died: 1867, Fredericton, New Brunswick
• Legacy: Rediscovered by literary historians in the 20th century; remembered as a foundational figure in Canadian fiction
References:
Bailey, Alfred G. (1976). Beckwith, Julia Catrherine (Hart). Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 9. University of Toronto/Université Laval. https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/beckwith_julia_catherine_9E.html
Image:
Portrait: Wikipedia
Proposal and title page.
Hart, J. C. B. (1824). St. Ursula’s convent, or The nun of Canada: Containing scenes from real life [Image showing proposals for publishing and title page]. Hugh C. Thomson. Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/stursulasconvent01hartuoft/page/n9/mode/2up