Hamilton, Alice Jane
Alice Jane Hamilton is the great-great granddaughter of John Rae’s sister, Marion Sibbald Rae. Marion, her husband John Hamilton and their ten children emigrated from Stromness, Orkney, Scotland, to Hamilton, Canada West (later named Ontario), in 1856. Long interested in her famous relative, Hamilton has spent many years researching the life of John Rae. She holds an Honours B.A. in English and Japanese Studies from McMaster University and an M.A. in Modern Literatures from Birkbeck College, University of London, United Kingdom. She has taught Communications, Visual Analysis and Canadian Literature at Georgian College in Barrie, Ontario. A keen historian, she has written articles for contributions to CBC Radio (“Fresh Air” and “Morningside”), as well as various news publications including the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star and the National Post. Hamilton lives with her husband in the small town of Penetanguishene, on Georgian Bay, from which John Franklin left by canoe in 1825 on his second overland journey to the Arctic, down the Mackenzie River. Hamilton and her husband have a combined family of five children and seven grandchildren, along with two horses and two dogs.
