Extent and Medium of Descriptive Unit

165 photo positive; mixture of hand-coloured and black and white. Silver gelatin lantern slides (glass positive); most measuring 10.2 x 8.3cm.

Dates of Creation

[ca.1808], [ca.1895]-[ca.1910]

Administrative History Biographical Sketch

William Albert Hickman (22 Dec 1878, New Brunswick – 10 Sep 1957) was a Canadian designer and manufacturer of innovative fast boats. He is best known as the inventor of the Hickman Sea Sled.

R.S. Pridham moved a branch of his Amherst-based photographic studio to Sackville, NB perhaps as early as 1895. He continued operating a studio under that name until at least 1911 when E. P. Smith purchased the photography business operated by R. S. Pridham in the Pridham Block on York Street in Sackville. Apparently, later the firm was organized as E. P. Smith and Sons. Perhaps when the studio was operated by Pridham, Hickman hired Pridham to take some photographs (e.g., for his handbook or other purposes). Alternatively, and perhaps more likely, perhaps Hickman took or otherwise obtained all the photographs in this collection and then hired Pridham to create and hand-colour a large series of magic lantern slides intended for use in public presentations.

Born in Dorchester, New Brunswick, Hickman grew up in Pictou, Nova Scotia, as part of a wealthy shipbuilding family. He earned a degree in marine engineering from Harvard University in 1899. He was named a Commissioner of New Brunswick and was situated in London, England to encourage immigration to NB through lectures and demonstrations using lantern slides. A lecturer for the Government, a Fellow of the Royal Colonial Institute and a successful novelist.[1]

He was highly intelligent but, openly, did not suffer fools gladly and was forever irritating his contemporaries in the marine business. This probably contributed to the low coverage of his ideas in the boating press.[2]
William Albert was remembered in the wills of both is paternal grandparents - Joseph left him $3000 and Ruth Hickman left him $700 for his education to be held in trust by his Aunt Ellen Douglas.

"The Sacrifice of the Shannon" was his only full length novel, originally published in 1903 by Frederick A Stokes, New York. Other works included:
- Handbook of New Brunswick (1900)
- The Canadian West and Northwest (1903)
- An Unofficial Love Story (1909)
- Canadian Nights (1914)
His father died when Wm Albert was about 1 years old. His mother did not remarry until he was about 14 years old. He is listed with his mother in the 1881 Census at age 3 in his maternal grandfather's household (William Wilson). In the 1891 Census he is listed in his paternal uncle John Hickman's household with his mother. In 1893 his mother married entrepreneur D H Purves of Pictou, NS.
He experimented with cutting-edge technology in marine craft, developing the Viper speedboat in 1906. He developed cigar-shaped, high-speed motor boats and a motorized sea-sled that rode on the water using a surface, not a submerged, propeller. In 1914 he tried to interest the British Admiralty in the sea-sled's application for carrying and discharging torpedoes. He did not make any breakthrough until late in the war, and at the same time, the United States navy adopted the sea-sled for aircraft tenders. In 1920 he moved to the States and established two firms for the design and construction of motorboats, and set world speed records racing sea-sleds on the Great Lakes.
Upon graduating from Harvard with a S.B cum laude in June of 1899, WA obtained the position of "Agent General for New Brunswick" or "New Brunswick Government Commissioner" and was stationed in London, England. In 1903, Hickman had finished working for the New Brunswick government and undertook work for the Dominion of Canada in presenting lectures on New Brunswick throughout Great Britain. After delivering approximately seventy-five lectures, WA returned to Pictou and conducted extensive research into people and landscapes of western Canada. This research was published in the form of a paper, entitled The Canadian West and Northwest and was published by the Royal Canadian Institute in January of 1903. Hickman's novel, The Sacrifice of the Shannon, published by the Frederick A Stokes Company of New York in 1903, told the story of a sea rescue in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. While living in Pictou, Hickman established his "Viper Company Limited" and patented designs for speedboats.

Married Esther Foss (1914), Noble's sister
WAH divorced Esther and married Dorothy Chapman of California on the 18 March 1922. There were no children from their marriage. As a result of the divorce Dorothy lost custody of her four young children - Eugene, Benjamin, Dora and Barbara, ages 2-9 approx. WAH and Dorothy were married only 9 years when Dorothy,age 42, died in 1931, of an embolism following minor surgery.
His mother, age 103, died shortly after WAH in 1957. Dorothy and William were both buried in Lot 8 Section 9 Grove Street Cemetery in New London, Conn.

Custodial History

E.P Smith and Sons purchased R.S. Pridham's Sackville Studio in 1911. It is possible these lantern slides became associated with the Smith name following this purchase even if it was Pridham who was involved in their creation / hand-colouring. Ronald P. Smith (one of E.P. Smith's sons) had a daughter who informed Mount Allison University Archives back in 2005 that the Smith Studio negatives were given to the Pridhams when they purchased Smith's Studio upon Ronald's retirement.

Creator(s)

Hickman, W. Albert, 1878-1957; SMITH STUDIOS;

Scope and Content

Albert, Gloucester, Kings, Northumberland, Madawaska, Queens, Restigouche, Westmorland, York

Cape Demoisell, Albert County, Upper Woodstock, Centerville, St Stephen, Calais, Pabineau Rapids, Nepisiguit, Sussex, Tracadie, Sugar Load, Kennebecasis River, Clifton, Sand Point lighthouse, Restigouche, Newcastle, Gagetown, Campbellton, Patapedia river, Squaw Cap mountain, Saint John, St. John river and Harbour, Indiantown, Lily Lake, Tantramar Marsh, Sackville, Upper Dorchester, Moncton, Fredericton, McAdam.


farming, rivers, woods, lazeretto, rivers, rapids, falls, Maliseet, fishing, camping, forest, grains, vegetables, skating, exhibition, Butchers, railway, military

Access Points