Archive for April, 2010

Scottish Literary Calendar: July

April 5, 2010 · Filed under Uncategorized · Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Epigraph 

                               I have seen wreathes of snow in hot July

                               Pierced by the iris green.

                               For so the dazzling sands of Arisaig

                               Deceive the unwary traveller with their sheen  

 Helen B. Cruikshank

 

 1|7|1790  William Roy (1726-90), Scottish major-general, map-maker and antiquary, dies.  Ref:  0701.01(LS)

 1|7|1913  David Toulmin, Aberdeenshire novelist, is born.  Ref:  0701.02(LS)

 1|7|1955  Candia McWilliam, novelist, is born, Edinburgh Ref:  0701.03(LS)

2|7|1768   Dugald Buchanan (1716-68), the Gaelic poet, dies.  Ref:  0702.01(LS)

2|7|1884   Deacon Brodie by W.E.Henley and R.L. Stevenson first produced in London at the Prince’s Theatre Ref:  0702.02(LS)

3|7|1847   Arthur Hugh Clough, the poet tipped to succeed Wordsworth, was at Drumnadrochit, Loch Ness where he was inspired to write his epic poem The Bothy of Tobar-na-Voirlich Ref:  0703.01(LS)

3|7|1857   Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864), the American novelist, serving as American consul in Liverpool, visits Inversnaid, Loch Lomond.  Ref:  0703.02(LS)

4|7|1841  Charles Dickens, novelist, visits the Trossachs. It rains.  Ref:  0704.01(LS)

5|7|1767  Michael Bruce, the Kinross-shire nature poet, dies.  Ref:  0705.01(LS)

6|7|1851  David Macbeth Moir, probable author of the Canadian Boat Song, dies.  Ref:  0706.01(LS)

6|7|1928 John Selby Watson (1804-84), the son of humble Scottish parents, and successful author of many books, including a Life of William Wallace, dies in Parkhurst Prison. He has been convicted for the murder of his wife in 1871.  Ref:  0706.02(LS)

6|7|1930 The Anatomist by James Bridie first produced at the Lyric Theatre, Edinburgh. Ref:  0706.03(LS)

6|7|1932 Kenneth Grahame, Edinburgh-born author of The Wind in the Willows, dies. Ref:  0706.04(LS)

7|7|1791 Thomas Blacklock, the blind poet, and friend of Burns, dies.  Ref:  0707.01(LS)

7|7|1814 Waverley first published.  Ref:  0707.02(LS)

7|7|1930 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle dies. Ref:  0707.03(LS)

7|7|1930 Hamish MacInnes, author and mountaineer, is born.  Ref:  0707.04(LS)

8|7|1931 Jack Webster, Scottish journalist and biographer, is born, Maud, Aberdeenshire.  Ref:  0708.01(LS)

8|7|1938 Tessa Ransford, poet, is born in India. She will become Director of the Scottish Poetry Centre, Edinburgh.  Ref:  0708.02(LS)

9|7|1775 ‘Monk’ Lewis, the Gothic novelist, is born. He will meet Walter Scott whom he will encourages to become a poet.  Ref:  0709.01(LS)

9|7|1871 Alexander Keith Johnston, geographer in ordinary to the Queen at Edinburgh, dies.  Ref:  0709.02(LS)

10|7|1802 Robert Chambers, author and publisher, is born, Peebles Ref:  0710.01(LS)

11|7|1754 Thomas Bowdler, alumnus of both St Andrews and Edinburgh Universities, and sanitiser of Shakespeare, born.  Ref:  0711.01(LS)

12|7|1548  Alexander Scott, poet,  appointed as organist at Priory of Inchmahome.  Ref:  0712.01(LS)

12|7|1838  John Jamieson, lexicographer, dies Ref:  0712.02(LS)

12|7|1912  Fred Urquhart, novelist, is born.  Ref:  0712.03(LS)

13|7|1873  Anthony Trollope at Divach Lodge  working on The Way We Live Now Ref:  0713.01(LS)

13|7|1903  Kenneth Clark, Art Historian, scion of  a  family of Paisley cotton manufacturers, born Ref:  0713.02(LS)

14|7|1597 Alexander Montgomerie, author of The Cherry and the Slae, officially outlawed for his part in a Catholic plot which involved seizing Ailsa Craig Ref:  0714.01(LS)

14|7|1801 Jane Welsh Carlyle, distinguished letter-writer born, Haddington Ref:  0714.02(LS)

15|7|1914 Gavin Maxwell, entrepreneur, naturalist and author born, Elrig. Ref:  0715.01(LS)

15|7!1919 [Jean] Iris Murdoch, DBE, is born. Her novels will include The Italian Girl (1964) which has scenes set in the policies of Guisachan Lodge, Inverness-shire. Ref: 0715.02(LS)

16|7|1892 John MacGregor (1825-92), author of 1000 Miles in a Rob Roy Canoe, dies.  Ref:  0716.01(LS)

17|7|1790 Death of Adam Smith, economist and author Ref:  0717.01(LS)

17|7|1827 James Millar, the miscellaneous writer who first proposed a tunnel under the Firth of Forth, dies.  Ref:  0717.01(LS)

18|7|1819  Barthélemy Faujas de Saint Fond, the French geologist who lovingly described Scotland, dies. Ref:  0718.01(LS)

19|7|1896 Archibald Joseph Cronin, novelist, born at Renton in the parish of Cardross, Dumbartonshire. He will practise medicine, but make his fortune by writing novels like The Citadel. Ref:  0719.01(LS)

19|7|1922 Ramsay MacDonald, Prime Minister, on his way to the Trossachs, relates, in Forward, that he had somewhat abruptly said to a fellow passenger: “Don’t trouble me about Parliament just now, I am thinking of heaven.” Ref:  0719.02

20|7|1789 Samuel Rogers, the English banker-poet, dined  in Edinburgh with Adam Smith, the economist, and Henry MacKenzie, the novelist.  Ref:  0720.01(LS)

20|7|1879 Dougal Graham (c1724-79), Stirling-born chapman and poet, dies Ref:  0720.02(LS)

20|7|1747 Andrew Lang dies, Banchory, but is buried in his beloved St Andrews. Ref:  0720.03(LS)

21|7|1796 Robert Burns dies, Dumfries.  Ref:  0721.01(LS)

21|7|1827 Archibald Constable, publisher, dies Ref:  0721.01(LS)

21|7|1918 Maurice Lindsay, poet, born Ref:  0721.01(LS)

22|7|1513 Gavin Douglas completed his Aenead.  Ref:  0722.01(LS)

22|7|1773 Robert Fergusson‘s Leith Races published in The Weekly Magazine Ref:  0722.02(LS)

22|7|1893 John Muir (1838-1914), naturalist and author, closely associated with the establishment of the USA’s first National Parks, left Stirling and went to Callander, thence to Inversnaid via the Trossachs. Ref:  0722.03

23|7|1800 Lady Sarah Murray (Aust), intrepid traveller and author, sailed from Oban to Ardtornish Ref:  0723.01(LS)

23|7|1816 Elizabeth Hamilton (1858-1816), Belfast-born novelist who resided near Stirling and in Midlothian, dies.  Ref:  0723.02(LS)

24|7|1825 John Eddowes Bowman, the author and naturalist, and his friend Dovaston travelled from Killin to the Trossachs.  Ref:  0724.01(LS)

25|7|1394  James I, monarch and poet, probably born on this St James Day Ref:  0725.01(LS)

25|7|1745  Alexander MacDonald, famous Gaelic poet, boarded the Doutelle in Uist to greet Prince Charlie Ref:  0725.02(LS)

25|7|1951  Robert Seton Watson, historian of the Balkans, dies, Isle of Skye Ref:  0725.03(LS)

26|7|1745 Henry MacKenzie, the novelist of the ‘Scottish Enlightenment’ known as ‘The Man of Feeling’ born, Edinburgh Ref:  0726.01(LS)

26|7|1915 Sir James Augustus Murray, Denholm-born distinguished editor of the Oxford English Dictionary, dies.  Ref:  0726.02(LS)

27|7|1777 Thomas Campbell, poet, born at 215 High Street, Glasgow.  Ref:  0727.01(LS)

27!7|1873 Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) arrives at Veitches Hotel, Edinburgh. There he forms a lifelong friendship with Dr. John Brown, author of Rab and his Friends. Ref:  0727.02(LS)

           

28|7|1838 John Ruskin, author and critic, first visited Loch Katrine.  Ref:  0728.01(LS)

28|7|1809 John Stuart Blackie, poet and Professor of Greek born in Glasgow Ref:  0728.02(LS)

28|7|1866 Beatrix Potter, who got her inspiration for her stories for children beside the River Tay, is born Ref:  0728.03(LS)

29|7|1814 Walter Scott set sail from Leith on his voyage in the Lighthouse Yacht Pharos Ref:  0729.01(LS)

30|7|1819 John Campbell Shairp, poet and critic, is born at Houston, West Lothian. He will become Professor of Poetry at Oxford.  Ref:  0730.01(LS)

31|7|1786 Publication of Kilmarnock Edition of Robert Burns’ Poems Ref:  0731.01(LS)

31|7|1909 Mary Lutyens, biographer of the Ruskins and the Grays, born Ref:  0731.02(LS)

31|7|1992 William Reaper (1959-92), biographer of the novelist George MacDonald (1987), dies in the Himalayas.  Ref:  0731.03(LS)

Louis Stott Database: 65 entries                                       Updated: 280998

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Scottish Literary Calendar: June

April 4, 2010 · Filed under Uncategorized

                Epigraph: Of the day Estivall

              The rivers fresh, the caller streams,

                  O’er rocks can softly rin;

               The water clear like crystal seems,

                   And makes a pleasant din

                                  Alexander Hume [1557-1609] 

1|6|1863  John McGrath, dramatist, born in Birkenhead, Cheshire. He becomes Artistic Director of the 7:84 Theatre Company, and in 1971 his play The Cheviot, the Stag and the Black, Black Oil takes Scotland by storm. Ref:  0601.01(LS)       

 

2|6|1789  John Wilson (1720-1789), Lanarkshire-born author of the epic descriptive poem The Clyde, dies at Greenock, Renfrewshire. Ref:  0602.01(LS)       

2|6|1863  Neil Munro, novelist, is born at Inveraray. His highly successful historical novels will include John Splendid (1898), and The New Road (1914). Ref:  0602.02(LS)   

2|6|1899 Edwin Way Teale (1899-1980), American naturalist and writer with literary interests, is born in Illinois. In Springtime in Britain (1970) he will describe hunting for James Boswell’s last resting place at Auchinleck. Ref: 0602.03

2|6|1935 Carol Shields, American novelist author of The Stone Diaries, is born. In 1963 she will meet her future husband, a Canadian, in Aberfoyle, Perthshire. Ref: 0602.04

3|6|1771  (Reverend) Sydney Smith (1771-1845), clergyman and wit, born at Woodford, Essex. With Francis Jeffrey, Henry Brougham and Francis Horner he starts the Edinburgh Review in 1802. Ref:  0603.01(LS)       

3|6|1774  Robert Tannahill (1774-1810), poet, born at 8 Castle Street, Paisley, Renfrewshire. His enormously popular songs will include Jessie, the Flower o’ Dunblane. Ref:  0603.02(LS)       

4|6|1724  (Reverend) William Gilpin, apostle of the Picturesque in Scotland, born in Cumberland. His enthusiastic brand of tourism is later satirised by William Combe in Doctor Syntax (1812), and in Doctor Prosody (1821), which describes a visit to Scotland. Ref:  0604.01(LS)        

4|6|1948  Valerie Gillies [née Simmons], poet, born Edmonton, Canada. She is brought up in Edinburgh and will write much-admired poetry providing new insights into the Scottish countryside. Ref:  0604.02(LS)  

4|6|1955   Val McDermid is born. She grows up in Kirkcaldy, Fife, and will write successful crime novels.    0604.03(LS)

5|6|1747  Record of books borrowed from the Innerpeffray Library, near Crieff in Perthshire (founded in1691), begins. Ref:  0605.01(LS)       

5|6|1913  Douglas Young (1913-73), poet and translator, born at Tayport in Fife. Ref:  0605.02(LS)        

5|6|1928  James Kennaway (1928-68), novelist, is born at Auchterarder. In 1956 he will publish his first novel, Tunes of Glory, which, as a screenwriter, he will turn into a highly successful film in 1960. Ref:  0605.03(LS)        

6|6|1912  William Douglas Home (1912-92), playwright, born. His comedies of manners will include The Chiltern Hundreds, and a play about the dilemma faced by his brother who became Prime Minister of  the United Kingdom. Ref:  0606.01(LS)       

6|6|1918  Tom Scott (1918-95) is born in Glasgow. In 1952 he will attend Newbattle Abbey College and meet Edwin Muir.  In 1953 he will publish translations into Scots of the poems of François Villon and embark on a career as a poet. Ref:  0606.02(LS)       

7|6|1835  George Birkbeck Hill (1835-1903), headmaster and authority on Boswell and Johnson is born in Tottenham. In 1889 he follows his heroes to the Hebrides, and writes Footsteps of Samuel Johnson (Scotland), illustrated by Lancelot Speed. Ref:  0607.01(LS)       

8|6|1768  Andrew Millar (1707-1768), a London publisher who was born in Scotland, dies. He has published both Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary and David Hume’s History.  In 1755 his generosity to authors led Johnson to say: ‘I respect Millar, sir; he has raised the price of literature’. Ref:  0608.01(LS)        

8|6|1882  James Thomson (1834-82), the Scottish author of the melancholy epic poem about Victorian urban life, The City of Dreadful Night, dies. Ref:  0608.02(LS)         

9|6|1881  Andrew Wilson (1830-91), author of one of the first books about the Himalayas, The Abode of Snow, dies. Ref:  0609.01(LS)          

9|6|1938  Giles Havergal, successful director of the Glasgow Citizens’ Theatre, is born. Ref:  0609.02(LS)        .

9|6|1946  James Kelman, novelist, is born in Glasgow. He will tranform the Scottish literary scene with his realistic novels about Glasgow life, The Busconductor Hines (1984), A Disaffection (1989) and the Booker prizewinning How late it was, how late (1994). Ref:  0609.03(LS)        

10|6|1901  Robert Williams Buchanan (1841-1901), poet and critic, at one-time resident at Soroba House, Oban, dies. Ref:  0610.01(LS)       

10|6|1920  James Allan Ford, civil servant and novelist, born, Auchtermuchty, Fife. Ref:  0610.02(LS)       

11|6|1793   William Robertson (1721-93), the historian who was a central figure during the Scottish Enlightenment, dies Ref:  0611.01(LS)        

11|6|1903   William Ernest Henley (1849-1903), the poet, dramatist, editor and critic, dies. An amputee, in 1873 he had gone to Edinburgh where he was cared for by Joseph Lister. There he met R.L.Stevenson, a lifelong friend. His most famous poem, Invictus, was written in 1875, and contains the line “my head is bloody, but unbowed.” Ref:  0611.02(LS)       

12|6|1759   William Collins (1721-59), the English poet who wrote an Ode on the Popular Superstitions of the Highlands, dies  Ref:  0612.01(LS)       

13|6|1922  James Logie Robertson, the poet who, as ‘Hugh Haliburton’, was the author of Scots versions of the poems of Horace, dies Ref:  0613.01(LS)       

13|6|1951  William Power, the leading Scottish literary critic of his generation, dies Ref:  0613.02(LS)       

14|6|1794  John Gibson Lockhart (1794-1854), lawyer, novelist and critic, is born at Cambusnethan in Lanarkshire. He will marry Sir Walter Scott’s daughter, and write his father-in-law’s biography. Ref:  0614.01(LS)       

14|6|1908  Kathleen Raine, the daughter of a Scottish mother who will become Britain’s most important twentieth century nature poet, is born. She will enjoy a tempestuous relationship with Gavin Maxwell, and much of her finest poetry will be inspired by the landscapes of Wester Ross. Ref:  0614.02(LS)       

14|6|1914   Ruthven Todd, poet and novelist, is born, in Edinburgh. Ref:  0614.03(LS)       

15|6|1844  Thomas Campbell, poet, dies. It was Campbell – a Glasgow man – who first said, supposedly inspired by a view of Edinburgh, “’Tis distance lends enchantment to the view.” Ref:  0615.01(LS)        

16|6|1807  Rev. John Skinner (1721-1807), the Aberdeenshire song writer, dies Ref:  0616.01(LS)       

16|6|1872  Norman Macleod, the influential editor of Good Words, dies.  Ref:  0616.02(LS)       

17|6|1911   James Cameron (1911-85), inspired foreign correspondent, is born. His first job as a journalist is in Dundee. Ref:  0617.01(LS)       

17|6|1943   Annie Shepherd Swan, prolific popular novelist, dies Ref:  0617.02(LS)  

17|6|2006   Jackie Kay (b.1961), poet and novelist, becomes an MBE. She born in Edinburgh and raised in Bishopbriggs. Her early collection The Adoption Papers (1991) wins great acclaim.  Ref:  0617.03(LS)     

18|6|1827  Alexander Balloch Grosart (1827-1899), author and editor, is born at Stirling.  Ref:  0618.01(LS)       

18|6|1942   (Sir) Paul Macartney, Liverpool singer/songwriter who is to later make a home in Kintyre in Scotland, is born  Ref:  0618.02(LS)       

19|6|1566  James VI, minor poet and King of Scots, is born. He becomes known as ‘the wisest fool in Christendom’. Ref:  0619.01(LS)       

19|6|1931 Sir James Barrie  (1860-1937), novelist and dramatist, dies. Ref:  0619.02(LS)       

19|6|1937   Tom Buchan, poet, is born in Glasgow Ref:  0619.03(LS)       

20|6|1723   Adam Ferguson, philosopher, is born at Logierait, Perthshire. He becomes a professor of philosophy and a friend of Sir Walter Scott  Ref:  0620.01(LS)       

20|6|1823   Maria Edgeworth (1768-1849), Irish novelist, visits the Trossachs, and thinks of Sir Walter Scott and her feelings on visiting the scenery he has made famous in The Lady of the Lake. Ref:  0620.02(LS)       

20|6|1887   The new Tay Bridge, like its predecessor the subject of an ode by the notorious poet, William McGonagall, is opened  Ref:  0620.03(LS)       

21|6|1998   Aestival, midsummer day, subject of a memorable poem, Of the Day Estivall (1599), by the courtier-poet Alexander Hume (c1556-1609), published in 1599 Ref:  0621.01(LS)       

21|6|1818: William Edmonstoune Aytoun (1813-65), poet and humourist, is born in Edinburgh.  Ref:  0621.02(LS)       

22|6|1812  Henry Mackenzie, the famous novelist, reads his account of the life of John Home, the famous dramatist, before the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Ref:  0622.01(LS)        

23|6|1903  Frank Fraser Darling (1903-79), naturalist and author, born in England. He will work in Edinburgh and the Highlands and write the definitive Natural History of the Highlands and Islands (1947). Ref:  0623.01(LS)       

24|6|1795  William Smellie, editor of and key contributor to the first Encyclopaedia Britannica of 1768, dies.   Ref:  0624.01(LS)       

25|6|1684   Archbishop Robert Leighton (1611-84), who was so modest that he refused any of his works to be published while he was alive, dies at the Bell Inn, Warwick Lane, London. He leaves his valuable library to the diocese of Dunblane where he was Bishop after the Restoration. It is still open to the public. Ref:  0625.01(LS)       

25|6|1816  Hugh Henry Brackenridge, the Argyll-born author who became one of the first American novelists, dies. Ref:  0625.02(LS)       

25|6|1897   Margaret Oliphant, a leading Victorian Scottish novelist, dies. Ref:  0625.03(LS)       

26|6|1769  Thomas Pennant leaves Chester to embark on his first Tour of Scotland. Ref:  0626.01(LS)        

26|6|1791  John Mactaggart (1791-1830), encyclopædist and civil engineer, is born in the parish of Borgue, Kirkcudbrightshire. Mactaggart’s Scottish Gallovidian Encyclopedia, is published in 1824, and is a clever medley of local history, etymologies, verses, and biographies Ref:  0626.02(LS)       

27|6|1843  John Murray, publisher, dies Ref:  0627.01(LS)       

27|6|1885  W. L. Lorimer, author of The New Testament in Scots, is born. Ref:  0627.02(LS)       

27|6|1949  F. S. Smythe, the author and climber who believed that he saw the remnants of a  supernatural army above the Falls of Glomach, dies. Ref:  0627.03(LS)       

28|6|1802   Thomas Garnett, professor at the Andersonian Institution in Glasgow and author of a significant Highland Tour, dies Ref:  0628.01(LS)       

28|6|1935   The first ten Penguins, which include Compton MacKenzie’s  Carnival, are published  Ref:  0628.02(LS)       

29|6|1787  Robert Burns (1759-1796) is made a freeman of Dumbarton at the end of his West Highland tour.  Ref:  0629.01(LS)       

29|6|1833  The Schoolmaster and Edinburgh Weekly Magazine, a  journal, conducted and almost wholly written by the novelist Mrs. Christian Johnstone is converted into ‘Johnstone’s Edinburgh Magazine,’ published monthly Ref:  0629.02(LS)       

30|6|1709  Edward Lhuyd, the Celtic Scholar who first recorded many Hebridean folk stories, dies Ref:  0630.01(LS)       

30|6|1761  Thomas Sheridan (1719-1788), the famous Irish actor and teacher of elocution, commences a series of lectures on ‘The English Tongue’ in Edinburgh. Ref:  0630.02(LS)       

30|6|1798   Alexander Dyce (1798-1869), scholar, is born in Edinburgh. He will edit the works of Shakespeare and others, and leave a valuable library of books and manuscripts to the Victoria and Albert Museum. Ref:  0630.03(LS)       

30|6|1922    ‘Molly Hunter’, novelist, born Longniddry. She will write many exciting Scottish stories for children.  Ref:  0630.04(LS)       

Louis Stott Database: 62 entries                                                  Updated: 280998

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Scottish Literary Calendar: May

April 4, 2010 · Filed under Scottish Literary Calendar · Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

 

Epigraph

         Last May a braw wooer cam down the lang glen,

           And sair wi’ his love he did deave me;

        I said there was naething I hated like men -

           The deuce gae wi’m, to believe me, believe me

         Robert Burns

  1|5|1855   Marie Corelli,  Gothic novelist, daughter of  the Scottish journalist and song-writer Charles MacKay, is born.  Ref: 0501.01(LS)

 1|5|1912: The famous statue of Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, London, by Sir George Frampton (also responsible for the decoration of the facade of the Glasgow Art Galleries), appears, as if by magic.  J.M.Barrie pays for it. Ref: 0501.02(LS)

 1|5|1917   Wilfred Owen, war poet, was diagnosed as neurasthenic and sent to Craiglockhart War Hospital, Slateford, near Edinburgh, to recuperate. Ref: 0501.03(LS)

01|5|2009  Carol Ann Duffy, the first Scottish poet laureate, succeeds Andrew Motion in the position. One of her first poems in that capacity celebrates Catherine Lockerbie (b.1958), the retiring Director of the Edinburgh Book Festival. 0501.04

 2|5|1779   John Galt, novelist, is born, Irvine   Ref: 0502. 01(LS)

 2|5|1879   Maurice Walsh, author of The Key Above the Door and other novels, is born  in Ireland   Ref: 0502. 02(LS)

 2|5|1936   Mairi Hedderwick, writer and illustrator is born, Greenock.  Ref: 0502. 03(LS)

 3|5|1845   Thomas Hood, the comic poet who was brought up in Dundee, dies  Ref: 0503.01(LS)

 3|5|1901   Beau Austin and Macaire, two neglected plays by R.L.Stevenson and W.E.Henley, are performed at a charity matinee in Her Majesty’s Theatre, London.  Ref: 0503.02(LS)

 4|5|1726   William Roy (1726-90), major-general, map-maker and antiquary, is born Milton Head, Lanarkshire  Ref: 0504.01(LS)

 5|5|1852   Charles St John (1809-1856), naturalist, described  finding a perigrine falcon’s nest on the cliffs between Lossiemouth and Burghead in his journal.Ref:   0505.01(LS)

 5|5|1902   Bret Harte, American novelist, who was US Consul in Glasgow 1880-85, dies  Ref: 05 05.01(LS)

 5|5|1927   Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse, set in the Hebrides, is published. Critics receive it favourably, but complain that her description of the flora and fauna is totally inaccurate. Ref:   0505.01(LS)

 6|5|1825   Lady Ann Lindsay (Barnard) dies  Ref: 0506.01(LS)

 6|5|1907   John Watson, the novelist ‘Ian Maclaren’, dies on a lecture tour in America  Ref: 0506.02(LS)

 7|5|1797   Elizabeth Grant of Rothiemurchus, diarist, is born, Edinburgh. Ref: 0507.01(LS)

 7|5|1871   John Joy Bell, journalist, novelist and travel-writer, is born. Ref: 0507.02(LS)

 8|5|1691   Sir George MacKenzie of Rosehaugh, who, as Lord Advocate, first established (in 1689) the library which became The National Library of Scotland, dies  Ref: 05 08.01(LS)

 8|5|1753    Oliver Goldsmith, playwright, describes in a letter a Highland Tour lasting a month which he has made while he was a student in Edinburgh  Ref: 0508.02(LS)

 8|5|1969   A plaque in Westminster Abbey commemorating Lord Byron, who had died in 1824, is finally permitted. Ref: 0508.03(LS)

 8|5|1943   Pat Barker writer, is born. She will write Regeneration (1991) describing the lives of the War Poets incarcerated at Craiglockhart. Ref: 0508.04(LS)

 9|5|1860    J.M.Barrie, novelist and playwright, is born, Kirriemuir, Angus.  Ref: 0509.01(LS)

 9|5|1909    Robert  Garioch Sutherland [‘Robert Garioch’], poet, is born in Edinburgh. He will write many amusing poems in the Scots tongue.  Ref:  0509.02(LS)

 10|5|1765   In his Travels in France and Italy Tobias Smollett, at Aix en Provence, describes Cannes, Frejus, Toulon and Marseilles.  Ref: 0510.01(LS)

 11|5|1793   William Tait , publisher, is born  Ref: 0511.01(LS)

 11|5|1882   Dr. John Brown, the notable miscellaneous writer, dies, Edinburgh.  Ref: 0511.02(LS)

 11|5|2008 Jeff Torrington, writer, dies in Paisley, Renfrewshire. He has taken thirty years to write his masterpiece Swing Hammer Swing (1992), which wins the Whitbread Prize. Ref: 0511|03

 12|5|1943   Roderick Watson, poet and professor of English, is born, Aberdeen. Ref: 0512.01(LS)

 13|5|1785    First Edition of The Edinburgh Advertiser is published. Ref:   0513.01(LS)

 13|5|1951   Walter Carruthers Sellar, Aberdeen-born co-author of 1066 and All That dies. Ref: 0513.02(LS)

 13|5|1962   Kathleen Jamie, poet, is born Dundee.  Ref: 0513.03(LS)

 14|5|1692   Robert Kirk (1644-1692), author of The Secret Commonwealth dies or, according to some, is transported to Fairyland, on Doon Hill, Aberfoyle. Ref: 0514.01(LS)

 15|5|1824   Alexander Campbell, musician, poet and author of a  A Journey from Edinburgh through parts of North Britain, with drawings made ‘on the spot’ by the writer (1802), dies.  Ref: 0515.01(LS)

 15|5|1886   Helen B. Cruikshank, poet, is born, Angus. Ref: 0515.02(LS)

 15|5|1887   Edwin Muir, poet, is born at Deerness, Orkney. Ref: 0515.03(LS)

 *16|5|1763   James Boswell and Doctor Johnson meet for the first time in Tom Davies’ London bookshop. Aware of Johnson’s prejudices Boswell admits; “I do indeed come from Scotland, but I cannot help it.” In 1791, on the anniversary of their first meeting in a Covent Garden coffee house, Boswell’s Life of Johnson is published. Ref: 0516.01(LS)*

 16|5|1928    William Nicholson (1782-1849), the Galloway poet, dies in poverty. Ref:   0516.02(LS)

 17|5|1810   Robert Tannahill, poet, dies. Ref: 0517.01(LS)

 17|5|1959   Sir David Bone, master mariner and novelist, dies.  Ref: 0517.02(LS)

 18|5|1785   John Wilson, ‘Christopher North’, is born at 63, High Street, Paisley. Ref:   0518.01(LS)

 19|5|1795   James Boswell dies in London, aged 54.  Ref: 0519.01(LS)

 19|5|1814   Thomas Moore describes a supper at which Lord Byron finishes two or three lobsters, washed down by half a dozen glasses of strong brandy, with tumblers of hot water.  Ref: 0519.02(LS)

 19|5|1834   Thomas Carlyle reaches London and begins house hunting. He finds a small old-fashioned house in Cheyne Row, Chelsea. Mrs. Carlyle follows and confirms his choice.  Ref:  0519.03(LS)

 19|5|1895   Charles Hamilton Sorley (1895-1915) poet, is born in Aberdeen.  Robert Graves  pronounces Sorley ‘one of the three poets of importance killed during the war’, rating him alongside Wilfred Owen  Ref: 0519.04(LS)

 19|5|1932   W.H.Auden’s Orators, on which he worked while a schoolmaster in Scotland, is first published. Ref: 0519.05(LS)

 20|5|1650   James Graham, Marquis of Montrose finalises a poem on the eve of his execution.  Ref:  0520.01(LS)

 20|5|1946   Jane Helen Findlater, novelist, dies, Comrie, Perthshire.  Ref: 0520.01(LS)

 21|5|1929   Lord Rosebery (1847-1929), Prime Minister and Burns enthusiast who supervised the celebration of the centenary of the poet’s death, dies  Ref: 0521.01(LS)

 22|5|1832   Sir James Mackintosh, political philosopher, dies. Ref: 0522.01(LS)

 22|5|1859   (Sir) Arthur Conan Doyle is is born in Edinburgh. Ref: 0522.02(LS)

 22|5|1948   James Hunter, authentic historian of Highland life, is born Duror, Argyll.  Ref: 0522.03(LS)

22|5|1970   Willa Anderson (Muir), novelist, dies of heart failure in hospital at Dunoon.  Ref: 0522.04(LS)

 23|5|1928   Ronald Frame, novelist, is born Glasgow.  Ref: 0523.01(LS)

 24|5|1825   R.M.Ballantyne, novelist, is born, Edinburgh  Ref: 0524.01(LS)

 24|5|1926   Agnes Owens, novelist, is born Bearsden. Ref: 0524.02(LS)

 25|5|1804   James Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd, in Cowal during a Highland tour. Ref:   0525.01(LS)

 26|5|1967   W.L. Lorimer, author of The New Testament in Scots, dies. Ref: 0526.01(LS)

 27|5|1862   Elizabeth Sanderson Haldane, pamphleteer and advocate of women’s rights, is born. Ref: 05 27.01(LS)

 27|5|1785   John Colquhoun, sportsman and author, dies  Ref: 05 27.01(LS)

 28|5|1882   Robert Watson (1882-1948), novelist, is born, Glasgow  Ref: 0528.01(LS) 

 29|5|1697   Martin Martin (d.1719) set out on his Voyage to St Kilda. He provides the first description of the remotest of the British Isles.  Ref: 0529.01(LS)

 29|5|1848   Thomas Dick Lauder, minor novelist, dies.  Ref: 0529.02(LS)

 30|5|1977   Guy McCrone, novelist, dies, Windermere  Ref: 0530.01(LS)

 31|5|1701   Alexander Cruden (1701-1770), author of a famous biblical concordance, is born, Aberdeen.  Ref: 0531.01(LS)

 31|5|1913   James Currie, early biographer of Robert Burns, is born Kirkpatrick Fleming, Dumfries-shire.  Ref: 0531.02(LS)

 Louis Stott Database: 66 entries                  Updated: 030410

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Scottish Literary Calendar: April

April 3, 2010 · Filed under Scottish Literary Calendar · Tagged , , , ,

 Epigraph

                Blows the wind to-day, and the sun and rain are flying,

                Blows the wind on the moors today and now,

                Where about the graves of the martyrs the whaups are crying,

                My heart remembers how!

 

             Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-94)

 

 1|4|1817   The Edinburgh Monthly Magazine, later Blackwood’s Magazine, is founded.  Ref: 0401.01(LS)

 2|4|1892   Publisher and travel writer John Murray dies.  Ref: 0402.01(LS)

 2|4|1925   George MacDonald Fraser, author of the Flashman Novels is born.  Ref: 0402.02(LS)

3|4|1854   Professor John Wilson, known as Christopher North, dies   Ref: 0403.01(LS)

3|4|1930   C. Day Lewis, later Poet Laureate, leaves Larchfield School, Helensburgh where he is succeeded by W. H. Auden.  Ref: 0403.02(LS)

4|4|1828   Margaret Oliphant, successful Victorian novelist, is born Musselburgh.  Ref: 0404.01(LS)

4|4|1937   Louis MacNeice, the Irish author of Bagpipe Music, first arrives on Lewis.  Ref: 0404.02(LS)

5|4|1739   Sir William Forbes (1739-1806), of Pitsligo, banker and author, is born in Edinburgh. He will write a Life of James Beattie, meet Boswell and Johnson, and be admired by Scott who will put him in Marmion.  Ref: 0405.01(LS)

5|4|1792   Hew Ainslie (1792-1878), Scottish poet, is born in the parish of Dailly, in Ayrshire. In 1820 his best-known book A Pilgrimage to the Land of Burns will be published.  Ref: 0405.02(LS)

5|4|1794   Susanna Blamire, the ‘Lark of Cumberland’ who often wrote poetry in the Scots language dies. She was a frequent visitor to Gartmore House, Perthshire.  Ref: 0405.03(LS)

 6|4|1320   The Declaration of Arbroath,  Scotland’s elegantly expressed declaration of  independence, is first published   Ref: 0406.01(LS)

 6|4|1901   George Smith, of Scottish parentage, the founder and proprietor of the Dictionary of National Biography, dies.   Ref: 0406.02(LS)

 7|4|1718   Hugh Blair, critic, is born, Edinburgh.  Ref: 0407.01(LS)

 7|4|1868   Samuel Lloyd Osbourne, Robert Louis Stevenson’s stepson, co-author and eventual heir, is born   Ref: 0407.01(LS)

8|4|1783   John Claudius Loudon (1783-1843), famous landscape-gardener, editor and horticultural writer, born at Cambuslang, Lanarkshire   Ref: 0408.01(LS)

8|4|1819   Walter Scott, crippled by gallstones, and unable to write, begins to dictate The Bride of Lammermuir.   Ref: 0408.01(LS)

*8|4|1871   Robert Louis Stevenson informs his father, during the course of a walk to Cramond, that he intends to give up engineering and devote himself to authorship.  Ref: 0408.01(LS)*

 9|4|1882   Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Pre-Raphaelite, who almost committed suicide at Kilkerran, Ayrshire, dies in London   Ref: 0409.01(LS)

 9|4|1938   Bruce Lenman, academic and author of  Jacobite Risings in Britain  born, Aberdeen.  Ref: 0409.02(LS)

 10|4|1601   Mark Alexander Boyd, lyric poet of Penkill, Ayrshire, dies.  Ref: 0410.01(LS)

 11|4|1839   John Galt, novelist, dies.   Ref: 0411.01(LS)

 11|4|1857   John Davidson, poet, is born, Barrhead, Renfrewshire. He will contribute to The Yellow Book and be one of the first Scottish poets whose work has a twentieth century ‘feel’.  Ref: 0411.02(LS)

 11|4|1886   Seton Gordon, naturalist and author, is born.  Ref: 0411.03(LS)

 11|4|1928   Duncan Williamson, storyteller, is born Furnace, Argyllshire.  Ref: 0411.04(LS)

 12|4|1941   Charles Murray, the vernacular poet with an international reputation from Alford in Aberdeenshire, dies in Banchory.  Ref: 0412.01(LS)

 12|4|1942   Bill Bryden, dramatist, born Greenock.  Ref: 0412.02(LS)

13|4|1807   Robert Heron  (1764-1807), one of the first, but one of the least accurate biographers of Burns, dies.   Ref: 0413.01(LS)

13|4|1913   Gordon Donaldson,  Historiographer Royal, born.   Ref: 0413.02(LS)

13|4|1996   George Mackay Brown, the much-loved Orcadian writer, dies, Stromness.  Ref: 0413.03(LS)

13|4|2006  Muriel Spark, novelist, dies in Tuscany. Ref: 0413.04(LS)

14|4|1930   Dr Adam Watson, ecologist and author, is born, Turriff   Ref: 0414.01(LS)

14|4|1964   The  prosecution for obscenity of Cain’s Book by the young Scottish author Alexander Trocchi begins in Sheffield.  Ref: 0414.02(LS)

 15|4|1641   Robert Sibbald, author and topographer, is born   Ref: 0415.01(LS)

 15|4|1970   A.A.MacGregor (1889-1970), litterateur, dies   Ref: 0415.01(LS)

 15|4|1984   Alexander Trocchi, novelist, dies.  Ref: 0415.01(LS)

 16|4|1641   Thomas Urquhart, Scottish man of letters, knighted by Charles I.  Ref: 0416.01(LS)

 16|4|1800   William Chambers, publisher, born, Peebles   Ref: 0416.02(LS)

 16|4|1808   John Murray, Scottish founder of the distinguished London publishing house dies   Ref: 0416.03(LS)

 16|4|1904   Samuel Smiles, biographer, dies   Ref: 0416.04(LS)

 17|4|1787   Robert Burns accepted 100 guineas from William Creech for the  Edinburgh Edition of  his poems which were published later the same year.  Ref: 0417.01(LS)

 17|4|1800   Catherine Sinclair, novelist, born Edinburgh.  Ref: 0417.02(LS)

 17|4|1845   Lucy Bettina Walford born, Portobello, Midlothian.  Ref: 0417.03(LS)

 17|4|1932   Patrick Geddes, environmentalist, dies   Ref: 0417.04(LS)

18|4|1825   Charles Roger, litterateur, born, Dunino, Fife   Ref: 0418.01(LS)

18|4|1852   William M. Thackeray in Glasgow where he visited Hill Head, ‘pronounced Hull Heed’.  Ref: 0418.02(LS)

 18|4|1936   Robert Bontine Cunningham Graham buried, Inchmahome, where his funeral oration was delivered by William Power, the critic.  Ref: 0418.03(LS)

 19|4|1824   Lord George Gordon Byron, poet, dies   Ref: 0419.01(LS)

 19|4|1902   Marion  Lochhead, Lanarkshire poet, born.   Ref: 0419.02(LS)

 19|4|1995 [James Edmund] Neil Paterson (1915-1995), novelist and screen writer, dies in Crieff, Perthshire. Ref: 0419.03(LS)

 20|4|1707   Robert Foulis, printer and publisher, born, Glasgow.  Ref: 0420.01(LS)

 20|4|1796   George Robert Gleig, novelist, born Stirling.  Ref: 0420.01(LS)

 20|4|1943   Alan Bold, poet and critic, born.  Ref: 0420.01(LS)

21|4|1765   David Malloch, Crieff-born poet, dies.   Ref: 0421.01(LS)

21|4|1914   S.R.Crockett, novelist, dies, Avignon.   Ref: 0421.01(LS)

22|4|1765   James Grahame (1765-1811), poet, born Glasgow.  Ref: 0422.01(LS)

22|4|1886   David Grant (1823-1886), poet, born in Banchory, dies, Edinburgh. Ref: 0422.01(LS)

23|4|1838   John Muir, environmentalist and author, born, Dunbar.   Ref: 0423.01(LS)

24|4|1567   First printed book in Gaelic, ‘Forms of Prayer’, translated by John Carsewell, published.  Ref: 0424.01(LS)

24|4|1825   Robert Michael Ballantyne, novelist, born.  Ref: 0424.02(LS)

25|4|1719   Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, inspired by the experiences of Alexander Selkirk of Lower Largo, Fife, first published.  Ref: 0425.01(LS)

25|4|1996   John Lorne Campbell, folklorist, dies Italy   Ref: 0425.02(LS)

26|4|1854   Henry Cockburn, judge and diarist dies.  Ref: 0426.01(LS)

26|4|1981   Robert Garioch, poet, dies.   Ref: 0426.01(LS)

27|4|1794   James Bruce, the African explorer dies at his Stirlingshire home, after falling down steps in his haste to offer assistance to a lady.  Ref: 0427.01(LS)

27|4|1920   Edwin Morgan, poet, is born in Glasgow.  Ref: 0427.01(LS)

28|4|1898   William Soutar,  poet, born Perth.  Ref: 0428.01(LS)

28|4|1747   Kenneth White, poet and professor at the Sorbonne, is born.   Ref: 0428.02(LS)

28|4|1960   Ian [James] Rankin is born at Cardenden, Fife. He will create the notable Edinburgh detective, ‘Rebus’. Ref: 0428.03(LS)

 29|4|1667   John Arbuthnott, creator of John Bull, born Kincardineshire.   Ref: 0429.01(LS)

 29|4|1885   Andrew Young, poet, is born, Elgin   Ref: 0429.02(LS)

 29|4|1938   Pittendriech McGillivray, sculptor and poet, dies.   Ref: 0429.03(LS)

30|4|1845   Alexander Anderson, ‘Surfaceman’, miner-poet and librarian, is born.  Ref: 0430.01(LS)

Louis Stott Database: 73 entries                                                       Updated: 020110

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