BALLANTYNE, ROBERT MICHAEL Scottish writer of fiction, was born in Edinburgh, and came of the same family as the famous printers and publishers. When 16 years of age he went to Canada and was for six years in the service of the Hudson's Bay Company. He returned to Scotland in 1847, and next year published his first book, Hudson's Bay: or, Life in the Wilds of North America. In 1856 he began the series of excellent stories of adventure for the young with which his name is popularly associated. The Young Fur-Traders (1856), The Coral Island (18S7), The World of Ice (1859), Ungava: a Tale of Eskimo Land (1857), The Dog Crusoe (186o), and other books, to the number of upwards of 100, followed.
See his Personal Reminiscences of (1893).