Francis Joseph Sherman
1871-1926

Francis Joseph Sherman was born 3 February 1871 in Fredericton, New Brunswick. Sherman attended the Collegiate School in Fredericton and completed a freshman year at the University of New Brunswick in 1886. Forced to leave UNB the following year due to financial difficulties, Sherman took a junior position at the Merchants’ Bank of Halifax (which later became the Royal Bank of Canada) in Woodstock, NB. That same year, Sherman was transferred to Fredericton and promoted to branch manager, becoming the youngest banker holding this position in Canada. In 1899, he was transferred to Montreal and later that year to Havana, Cuba. Sherman remained employed with The Royal Bank of Canada in Cuba until 1912, when he applied for a permanent transfer back to the Montreal office. It was while working at the bank in Fredericton that Sherman started writing poetry. His career as a poet commenced with the publication of Matins (1896).  Several months after Matins, In Memorabilia Mortis (1896) was privately printed by Copeland and Day, as were A Prelude (1897), and The Deserted City (1899). Sherman’s final collection, A Canadian Calendar: XII Lyrics (1900), was privately published in Havana, Cuba. The Atlantic Monthly published Sherman’s last poem, “An Acadian Easter.” Enrolling with the Officers Training Corps of McGill University, Overseas Contingent, in 1914, Sherman enlisted as a private for reinforcements of the Princess Patricia Canadian Light Infantry in 1915. In France, he won a captaincy and was transferred to the Royal Canadian Pay Corps, where he was later discharged with the rank of Major.  In 1919 he retired from the bank and in 1921 he moved to Atlantic City where he died in Atlantic City in 1926. He is buried in Forest Hill Cemetery in Fredericton close to Bliss Carman and Sir Charles G.D. Roberts and on UNB's campus, a national monument to Sherman, Carman and Roberts was erected at “Poets’ Corner”.

Source

Armstrong, Tammy.  "Francis Joseph Sherman." New Brunswick Literary Encyclopedia, Spring 2009. Accessed 3 May 2023.

Predominant New Brunswick Residences:

Fredericton

Archival Material

  • Location
    University of New Brunswick Archives & Special Collections
    Retrieval Number
    MG L 4
    Date Range of Material
    1871-1938
    Extent

    2.7 cm textual records
    4 photographs ; b&w ; 19.5 x 25 cm or smaller

    Scope and Content Note

    This fonds documents the literary career of Francis Joseph Sherman. It includes typescripts of poems, correspondence between Sherman and F.H. Day of Copeland and Day Publishers (Boston), and correspondence after Sherman's death concerning the acquisition of his papers by the Royal Bank and the memoir being written by Lorne Pierce for inclusion in Who was Who and in The Complete Poems of Francis Sherman.

Francis Sherman in military uniform
Credit

Courtesy of University of New Brunswick Libraries, Archives & Special Collections. MG L 42, File 5, item 5. Accessed 3 May 2023.

See the New Brunswick Literary Encyclopedia entry.

Bibliography Items

Displaying 1 - 4 of 4
Sherman, Francis Joseph. In memorabilia mortis. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press, 1896, 11 pp. [ book ]

Sherman, Francis Joseph. Matins. Boston, MA: Copeland and Day, 1896, 58 pp. [ book ]

Sherman, Francis Joseph. A prelude. Boston, MA: Copeland and Day, 1897, 10 pp. [ book ]

Sherman, Francis Joseph. A Canadian calendar : XII lyrics. Habana, Cuba, 1900. [ book ]