Thomas Glendenning Hamilton

Thomas Glendenning Hamilton (November 27, 1873—1935) was a physician and surgeon, a politician, and a researcher into psychic phenomena. Hamilton was also the first president of the University of Manitoba Alumni Association.

Hamilton was born at Agincourt in Scarborough, Ontario. As a child, he moved with his family to Winnipeg Manitoba, Canada. He was educated at Manitoba College and the Manitoba Medical College, and practised as a physician. He lectured in Medical Jurisprudence at the Manitoba Medical College, and was a staff member at the Winnipeg General Hospital. Hamilton served on the Winnipeg School Board from 1906 to 1915, and was its chair in 1912-13. In religion, Hamilton was a Presbyterian.

He served in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1915 to 1920 as a member of the Liberal Party. He first sought election to the Manitoba legislature in the 1914 provincial election, and lost to Conservative Harry Mewhirter by 364 votes in the Elmwood constituency. He ran again in the 1915 election, and defeated new Conservative candidate D. Munro by 1,453 votes. The Liberals won a landslide majority in this election, and Hamilton served as a backbench supporter of Tobias C. Norris's government for the next five years.

Hamilton sought re-election in the 1920 provincial election, in the restructured ten-member constituency of Winnipeg. Members were elected by a single transferable ballot. Hamilton finished in twentieth place on the first count with 786 votes, and was eliminated on the 22nd count.

Hamilton was also known for conducting psychic research, in which he attempted to apply empirical methods. Using a unique multi-camera apparatus, he flash-photographed mediums during what appeared to be psychic events. The University of Manitoba holds many papers, slides and transparencies from his work in psychic research. Hamilton's wife, Lillian Hamilton, was very involved in the research, although her name rarely appears in the publications.

External links

"Hamilton psychical archive at the University of Manitoba:"
* [http://www.umanitoba.ca/libraries/units/archives/collections/complete_holdings/rad/mss/hamilton_tg.shtml University of Manitoba : Archives & Special Collections ] at www.umanitoba.ca"Examples of Hamilton's photographic documents of purported psychic activity:"
* [http://www.umanitoba.ca/libraries/units/archives/exhibits/hamilton/index.htm]