Notes

Joseph Howe is one of the greatest journalists and parliamentarians in Nova Scotia history, best known for winning his libel case in 1835 and for promoting responsible government in Nova Scotia. Howe had published two letters signed ‘The People’ accusing the Halifax magistrates and police of gross corruption. The Attorney General brought a charge of criminal libel against him. Acting in his own defence, Howe was successfully acquitted. This article is more concerned with Joseph Howe as a printer.

Howe’s influence was largely due to his ability to communicate his message through his newspaper, the Novascotian.

Born into a printing family, his father was John Howe, who is also featured in our archives. At the age of 13, he became his father’s apprentice and after ten years of training, in 1827, he bought a small newspaper he called the Acadian. It was not a political newspaper, and it gives no hint of the political content which Howe would later develop. It furnished news and its editorials were devoted to sketches of of scenery and local affairs. His connection with the Acadian was brief. In 1828 he bought the Novascotian, which he developed into the most influential newspaper in Atlantic Canada.

Shortly after purchasing the Novascotian, he married Catharine Susan Ann McNab, from a prominent Nova Scotia family.

As a printer, Howe published many books by several Nova Scotia writers, including Thomas Chandler Haliburton’s internationally best-selling Sam Slick stories.

It wasn’t until about 1830 that Howe started concentrating more on writing political topics. This would lead to him being elected, in 1836, as a member in the provincial legislature. He became Premier of Nova Scotia in 1860 and opposed Confederation. In 1867, he finally accepted the fact that Confederation was a done deal and was elected to the Canadian Parliament.

In 1873 he was appointed lieutenant governor of Nova Scotia but died three weeks later. He is buried in Camp Hill Cemetery in Halifax, Nova Scotia.