Augusto d'Halmar

Who was Augusto d'Halmar?

Augusto Goemine Thomson, who adopted the pseudonym Augusto d’Halmar was a Chilean writer who earned the National Prize for Literature in 1942.

D’Halmar was the son of Auguste Goemine, a French navigator, and Manuela Thomson. He was born in Santiago de Chile, although he himself claimed to have been born in Valparaiso. He became widely known in Chile by his adopted nom de plume, Augusto d’Halmar, in honour of his maternal great grandfather the Swede Baron de d’Halmar. His paternal great grandfather was the Scotsman Alexander Cross. Augusto was left an orphan at the age of 10 and he was reared by his stepsisters. He was a pupil in the Miguel Amunátegui Liceum from 1896 until he was interned in a Seminary which he abandoned in 1896 in order to devote himself entirely to literature. Good insights to Augusto's early life and family history can be read in "La Colonia Tolstoiana" by Fernando Santivan.