Bertrand William Sinclair, Date of Birth, Date of Death
TweetBertrand William Sinclair
Canadian writer
Date of Birth: 
About Bertrand William Sinclair
- Bertrand William Sinclair (1881–1972) was a Canadian novelist known for a series of westerns set in the United States, and also for a series of novels set in his home province of British Columbia. Sinclair was born 9 Jan 1881 in Edinburgh, Scotland, U.K.
- He was the son of George Bertrand and Robina (Williamson) Sinclair.
- His name at birth was William Brown Sinclair, but he changed it, adopting his father's middle name as his first name.
- He emigrated to Canada with his mother in 1889.At age 14 Sinclair ran away to Montana and became a cowboy for the next seven years.
- In 1903 he left Montana for Seattle and San Francisco, but returned to Montana, living in Great Falls for the next three years.
- In 1905 he first published stories.
- Also in 1905, he married author Bertha M.
- Brown, better known under her pen name (using her first husband's last name): B.
- M.
- Bower.
- Bower, a very prolific novelist, taught him to write "productively" and to employ a formula.
- Sinclair and B.
- M.
- Bower had one daughter. By 1908 Sinclair and Bower had moved to Santa Cruz, California.
- They divorced in 1912.
- The same year, Sinclair married his first wife's cousin, Ruth Brown.
- They had a child in 1912, a daughter.
- The Sinclairs moved to Vancouver, B.C., ultimately settling in Pender Harbour.
- Sinclair lived in Pender Harbour until his death.Sinclair's first series of work took place in Montana.
- Sinclair had disapproved of previous westerns he had read because he felt the action portrayed was far different that the lives cowboys actually led.
- When he moved to Vancouver, the settings of his works changed (except for two very late westerns).
- He tended to write about social causes, and worked in the timber industry prior to writing Big Timber.
- Later, before writing about the fishing industry, he worked as a commercial fisherman and then wrote Poor Man's Rock.
- Later in life, from 1936–66, he worked full-time as a licensed commercial fisherman.In writing about the outdoors, Sinclair was influenced in his portrayals by Jack London.
- In his works treating social causes, he was influenced by Upton Sinclair, who may have been a cousin.Over the years 1905-40 Sinclair wrote over 60 stories and 11 "novelettes".
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