Thomas Glendenning Hamilton (1873-1935)

Physician, MLA (1916-1920), psychic researcher.

Born in Agincourt, Ontario on 27 November 1873, son of James Hamilton and Isabella Glendenning, T. G. Hamilton was brought to Saskatoon by his parents at age 10, moving to Winnipeg in 1891. He was educated at Winnipeg Collegiate Institute and the University of Manitoba Medical School. In 1906, he married Lillian May Forrester, in Winnipeg.

Hamilton served as a Winnipeg School Board trustee from 1905 to 1915. He was elected as the MLA for Elmwood in 1915, replacing H. D. Mewhirter, and was active in much reform legislation of the Norris government, including mother’s allowances. He was chosen president of the Manitoba Medical Association (1921-1922) and was president of the University of Manitoba alumni in 1921. Around 1921, he began psychic research, and many visitors to the city, including Arthur Conan Doyle, attended his seances. His psychic research included attempts to photograph "ectoplasms" emanating out of mediums. He founded the Winnipeg Societyfor Psychic Research in 1931.

After his death in 1935, Hamilton’s son published the records of some of his experiments as Intention and Survival (1942). His extensive papers, including the photographs from his experiments, are at the University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections.

More information:

Psychic Research in a Winnipeg Family: Reminiscences of Dr. Glen F. Hamilton by James B. Nickels
Manitoba History, Number 55, June 2007.

Arthur Conan Doyle’s Adventures in Winnipeg by Michael W. Homer
Manitoba History, Number 25, Spring 1993

Source:

Profile revised: 2 September 2009

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