Louisa Haliburton (Neville)

Portrait of Louise Haliburton. This portrait reflects the intelligence and poise of a woman whose story reads like a historical novel.

Louise Haliburton – from a life of upheaval in Europe to quiet grace in Nova Scotia.

Louise Neville’s (c1793 – 1841) life could easily be made into a movie. Louise was born in England, the daughter of Captain Laurence Neville of the 19th Light Dragoons. Her mother died when she was very young, and her father placed her in the care of the wife of a fellow officer. Unknown to Captain Neville, this woman secretly married William McCabe, who became the secretary of an Irish group called ‘the United Irishmen’ who lead an unsuccessful revolt against British rule in 1798. With a price on his head, he fled to France, taking with him his wife and her ward, Miss Neville. When her guardian died, she returned to England and was reunited with her, by then, sick father.  

Before his death in 1812, Captain Neville wrote to an old friend, named Captain Piercy, asking him to call on Louise and generally look after her until her only brother could arrive from India where he was serving with the 11th Hussars. Neville died in complete ignorance of the fact that he had actually written to a complete stranger. He had written to an old retired naval officer by the same name, who along with his wife, did indeed call on Miss Neville and invited her, as they had no children, to make their home her home. Captain Piercy’s step-nephew, Thomas Chandler Haliburton, was visiting him from Canada. Although still a minor, Haliburton met Louisa, they became engaged and were married in 1816.

Louisa and Thomas were married in England and returned to Nova Scotia where Louisa was greeted with an all together chilly reception. Louisa had managed to capture the heart of one of Windsor’s most eligible bachelors. For him to have been taken off the market was a blow to many of Windsor’s maidens. Louisa eventually won them over and became a much-loved member of Windsor society.

Gwendolyn Davies, Professor and Dean Emerita at the University of New Brunswick, describes Louisa Haliburton as a typical Jane Austen heroine; intelligent, observant, cultivated and ironic. As she said, Austen’s heroines are never the prettiest girls in the room but they are always the smartest. Louisa’s story would make a great historical novel in the same vein as Sense and Sensibility or Pride and Prejudice.

There are few references to this lady and what we know is largely taken from ‘Haliburton: A Centenary Chaplet’ written to celebrate her famous husband, Thomas Chandler Haliburton, author of the Sam Slick stories. They lived in Windsor, Nova Scotia where they built Clifton Grove, a beautiful two-story wooden house which was later to become Canada’s first historical house museum. Clifton House was named for Louisa’s English birthplace home. Louisa had two sons and five daughters.

Louisa died in 1841 at the early age of 48 and is buried in Windsor, Nova Scotia – a woman whose journey to that quiet resting place was anything but ordinary.

Image Source:

Unknown. From a family portrait, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mrs_Louisa_Haliburton_wife_of_Thomas_Chandler_Haliburton.jpg

Reference:

Penney, Allen (2013). Louisa Neville, c.1793 – 1841: Mrs. Thomas Chandler Haliburton. Journal of the Royal Nova Scotia Historical Society. Vol. 16, p. 105 – 128.