(10 May 1797-8 Feb. 1859), travel writer. Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, Howison lived in Canada 1818-1820. On the basis of his experiences there, he wrote his Sketches of Upper Canada, Domestic, Local, and Characteristic, first published in Edinburgh and London, 1821 and a number of times reprinted. This work contains (pp. 18-24,1821 edition) an unsympathetic description of the pioneer GC. Presumably he saw only the area along the St. Lawrence. He found the inhabitants unambitious, and “blunt and uncultivated,” was shocked at the dirt and the rough diet of pork and onions in a home where he sought lodgings (the home was recommended to him as better than the tavern). In assessing the future of the settlement, he spoke warningly of “the influence which the character of the inhabitants of Glengary must necessarily have on the prosperity of their settlement.” This statement is based on the bad reputation the Scottish Highlanders (so much to be praised a little later by the Victorians) still had at this time for idleness and backwardness, and for lack of the steady ways necessary for success in advanced agriculture. Despite his reservations, Howison has left a valuable, vividly-written description of the scenes of a GC countryside in the untidy process of land clearing. He is probably the best-remembered of the travel writers who described GC in the 19th century. Before leaving Upper Canada, he received an appointment as assistant surgeon with the East India Company. He lived in Bombay for 20 years, and travelled extensively in India and Africa, and as far afield as the Arctic. He died in retirement in London, England.

The main source for Howison is the article by Elizabeth Waterston and J.J. Talman in Dictionary of Canadian Biography Vol. VIII, which has much bibliographical information about his publications * ODict (surprisingly, he was not in DNB) * MacGillivray & Ross 42-43 (quotation) * travel writers in pioneer and later GC: see “Travel writers,” Bibliography of Glengarry: index * Canniff 440-442 (biog. sketch and comment)