Victor Suthren

Victor Suthren (born March 2, 1942) is a Canadian writer and novelist with an interest in colonial and maritime history.

Background

The unusual name Suthren originates in the Old Norse/Icelandic word 'sudraenn' (Lowland Scots "southron" or "suthron") meaning of or from the south. Born of a British background (County Durham and North Wales) at Montreal, Quebec, he was educated at Bishop's (BA, Psychology/History,1965, where he was active in judo and dramatics, and received the Golden Mitre award for contributions to university life), McGill (Qualifying Year, Anthropology, 1966), and Concordia (MA, History,1970) universities. His student summers were spent in the Naval Reserve, where he was selected as a Cadet Captain and commissioned as a Sub-Lieutenant RCNR in 1964, and with the 1860s-era historical display unit, the Fort Henry Guard in Kingston, Ontario (1964-1967).

Career

After contract historical work for National Historic Sites following completion of graduate school he formally joined the Canadian Public Service in 1971, initially as an historian at the Fortress of Louisbourg in Nova Scotia. Though intent on a writing career and not an administrator by training or inclination he served with moderate success as Director General of the Canadian War Museum[1] in Ottawa from 1986 to 1997, having joined the museum in 1975.[2][3] During his term he managed despite chronically inadequate funding and government indifference to expand the museum's non-digital outreach programs, redesign its exhibits, increase its visitor figures, and initiate an ultimately successful fundraising campaign by the Friends of the Canadian War Museum toward improving the museum's quarters or pursuing a new museum building. He left the museum when, after visiting the United States Holocaust Museum in Washington, his efforts to have the Canadian War Museum embrace in addition to traditional military history a more critical examination of human conflict and genocide, including but not limited to the Holocaust---as the Canadian War Museum's colleague institution, Britain's Imperial War Museum, had just done---were opposed heatedly by some veterans, certain antipathetic ethnic societies, and several politically motivated historians, although it had been welcomed by human rights activists and the general public. Although it ended his museum career, the controversy nonetheless helped generate a renewed government interest in the museum, which led to a new War Museum building and contributed to the creation of the Canadian Museum of Human Rights in Winnipeg, as well as plans for a National Holocaust Monument adjacent to the new War Museum building in Ottawa. The year he left the museum he was appointed to a lengthy term (1997-2014) as an Honorary Captain in the Royal Canadian Navy by the Minister of National Defence, tasked to promote public awareness of early Canadian naval heritage. Since 1997 he has otherwise returned to being a full-time writer and occasional historical adviser and on-screen presenter for film and television productions.

He is the author of thirteen books, including several works of historical non-fiction, and his seven sea adventure novels, the Paul Gallant Trilogy and the Edward Mainwaring series, now also are published as e-books. His most recent book was 'The Island of Canada', published in 2009, and he currently (2016) is writing a new biography of the Welsh Atlantic pirate Bartholomew Roberts (1682-1722).

Naval and maritime experience

With the Navy he trained in RCN ships "Buckingham" and "New Waterford" in the Arctic and Atlantic, and subsequently has voyaged as a "tall ship" seaman (beginning in 1967 with the Canadian Grand Banks schooner "Bluenose II") in the Atlantic, Great Lakes, Caribbean Sea and across the Pacific to Hawaii, the last when he served as voyage crew/lecturer in the Australian replica of James Cook's 1768 ship, HM Bark "Endeavour". He has made numerous open-boat oar-and-sail crossings of the Great Lakes and crewed in replica longboats off Atlantic Canada and coastal Hawaii. While at the museum and later formally for the Navy's Colonial Sailor education program (which was active until 2012) he organized and led historical naval pageants at Louisbourg, Halifax, Summerside, Charlottetown, Toronto, Kingston, Amherstburg/Put-in Bay(Ohio) and Niagara-on-the-lake, involving combinations of sailing vessels, replica longboats, and civilian naval and military "re-enactors". He currently (2016) continues sailing for recreation and occasionally is involved in planning adventure sailing and naval re-enactment projects, for which he maintains a passionate interest.

Honours, awards

During his appointment as an Honorary Captain of the RCN (1997-2014) he received the Canadian Forces Decoration (CD), the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal, and a Bravo Zulu (Certificate of Appreciation) from the Commander of the Royal Canadian Navy for his historical commemoration work. In 1995 he received an Eagle Feather granted by the Mi'kmaq First Nation of Mi'kma'kik/Prince Edward Island.

Personal life

He lives with his artist wife Lindsay Scott Suthren (married 12 July 1969) in an 1850s cottage in the historic Rideau Canal village of Merrickville, Ontario, where he serves as a town councillor, and is the father of three grown children (Amy Parsons, Caedi Zaine and Scott Suthren) and grandfather to five grandchildren. His other current* and past memberships include:

Board, Bytown Brigantine Incorporated*;

Board, Friends of the Rideau Canal*;

Canadian Nautical Research Society*;

Captain Cook Society (UK)*;

Les Amis de Bougainville (Tahiti)*;

Polynesian Voyaging Society (Hawai'i);

Royal Canadian Legion*;

Fellow, Company of Military Historians (1978);

Fellow, Royal Society of Arts (1980);

Fort Henry Guard Association of Canada*

Northeast American Society for 18th Century Studies;

Naval Association of Canada;

The Liberal Party of Canada*; and

Savoy Gilbert & Sullivan Society of Ottawa.

His hobbies include sailing, kayaking, cross-country skiing, and amateur theatrical performance.

Paul Gallant series

Set in mid-18th century

  1. The Black Cockade (1977) (ISBN 0-8125-8862-2)
  2. A King's Ransom (1980) (ISBN 0-8125-8866-5)
  3. In Perilous Seas (1983) (ISBN 0-8125-8868-1)

Edward Mainwaring series

Starts in 1739

  1. Royal Yankee (1987) (ISBN 0-586-20429-6)
  2. The Golden Galleon (1988) (ISBN 0-312-02216-6)
  3. Admiral of Fear (1991) (ISBN 0-340-63840-0)
  4. Captain Monsoon (1993) (ISBN 0-312-08728-4)

Non-fiction

References

  1. ↑ Walberg, Rebecca (23 January 2010). "Coastlines defining Canadian characteristic". Winnipeg Free Press. Retrieved 26 June 2011.
  2. ↑ "Victor Suthren". Historical Naval Fiction. Retrieved January 15, 2016.
  3. 1 2 "Victor Suthren". Dundern. Retrieved January 15, 2016.

Victor Suthren, "A Museum of Tolerance", Maclean's Magazine, March 17, 2003.

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