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”.

Predominant New Brunswick Residences:

Fredericton

Archival Material

• Francis Joseph Sherman fonds
  ⌄
  Location

  University of New Brunswick Archives & Special Collections

  Website/Catalogue Record

  View Archival Record

  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.