Archive for Scottish Literary Calendar

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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Scottish Literary Calendar: December

August 12, 2009 · Filed under Scottish Literary Calendar · Tagged

Epigraph:

            Now mirk December’s dowie face
            Glours our the rigs wi’ sour grimace,
            While, thro’ his minimum of space,
            The bleer-ey’d sun
           Wi’ blinkin light and stealing pace,
            His race doth run.

Robert Fergusson The Daft Days

1|12|1887  First appearance of A Study in Scarlet by Conan Doyle . Ref:  0701.01(LS)

**2|12|1822 David Masson, biographer of Milton and Drummond of Hawthornden, is born, Aberdeen . Ref:   0702.01(LS)**

2|12|1956  Janice Galloway, novelist,  born Ardrossan, Ayrshire. Her first novel will be the highly praised The Trick is to Keep Breathing (1990).  Ref:   0702.02(LS)

**3|12|1894  Death from a cerebral haemorrhage of Robert Louis Stevenson, in Samoa. The Samoans call him ‘Tusitala’, the story-teller.   Ref:   0703.01(LS)**

**4|12|1795 Thomas Carlyle, eminent historian, born Ecclefechan, Dumfries-shire.  Ref:   0704.01(LS)**

5|12|1824 Walter Chalmers Smith, hymn-writer and poet, known as ‘Orwell’, is born in Aberdeen.  Ref:   0705.01(LS)

6|12|1905 William Sharp, the novelist and poet, who adopted the name ‘Fiona Macleod’ (whom he regarded as an almost totally separate person), dies.  Ref:   0706.01(LS)

6|12|1934 Forrest Wilson, author of Super Gran and other children’s novels, is born, Renfrew.  Ref:   0706.02(LS)

7|12|1837  Robert Nicholl, Perthshire poet dies, aged 33 years. A prominent obelisk commemorates him in his native place, Tullybelton.  Ref:   0707.01(LS)

7|12|1947  Ann Fine, novelist, including children’s novels, such as Madame Doubtfire, is born in Leicestershire.   Ref:   0707.01(LS)

**8|12|1859  Thomas De Quincey (1785-1859), opium-addict and critic, long resident in Midlothian and in Glasgow, dies at Mavis Bank, Lasswade, near Edinburgh.   Ref:   0708.01(LS)**

9|12|1931 Ian McIntyre, journalist, broadcaster and biographer of Burns, born, Banchory.  Ref:   0709.01(LS)

10|12|1824 George MacDonald, novelist and teller of fairy tales, born Huntly, Aberdeenshire.  Ref:   0710.01(LS)

**10|12|1907 Rumer Godden, novelist (Back Narcissus), who lived in Dumfries-shire, is born, Kent.   Ref:   0710.01(LS)**

11|12|1781 Sir David Brewster, scientist and editor of the Edinburgh Encylopaedia born.   Ref:   0711.01(LS)

12|12|1889 (Rev) Edward Bradley, author of the spoof, Travels in Tartanland, dies . Ref:   0712.01(LS)

13|12|1585 William Drummond, poet,  is born at Hawthornden of which estate he becomes laird in 1610. He will be  the first great Scottish poet to write in English.  Ref:   0713.01(LS)

14|12|1756  First performance of the tragedy Douglas by (Reverend) John Home, in Edinburgh. It calls forth the cry, by a member of the audience, “Whaur’s yer Wullie Shakespeare noo?”. Ref:   0714.01(LS)

14|12|1895 John MacNair Reid (1895-1954), novelist and poet, born Glasgow.  Ref:   0714.02(LS)

15|12|1791  Robert Burns writes the famous letter to Mrs. Maclehose beginning “I have some merit, my ever dearest of women, in attracting and securing the heart of Clarinda”. Ref:   0715.01(LS)

15|12|1981 Claud Cockburn, journalist and subversive, great-grandson of Lord Cockburn, dies, Cork.  Ref:   0715.02(LS)

16|12|1766 James Grainger, Berwickshire-born poet and critic, dies . Ref:   0716.01(LS)

16|12|1788 Robert Cadell, the publisher who persuaded J.M.W. Turner to illustrate Scott’s works, is born.   Ref:   0716.02(LS)

17|12|1945  Release of the quintessentially Scottish movie, I Know Where I’m Going, script by the Hungarian film-maker, Emeric Pressburger.  Ref:   0717.01(LS)

17|12|1957  Dorothy L. Sayers, author of  detective stories, including Five Red Herrings, set in Galloway, dies.  Ref:   0717.01(LS)

18|12|1904  Albert Mackie, historian, born Brunswick Road, Edinburgh . Ref:   0718.01(LS)

19|12|1818 Mary Brunton, novelist, dies in Edinburgh of a fever, aged 40.  Ref:   0719.01(LS)

19|12|1832 Francis Jeffrey (1773-1850), critic, elected Member of Parliament for Edinburgh.  Ref:   0719.02(LS)

19|12|1923 Gordon Jackson, the actor who appeared in several notable films made from  famous  Scottish books, including Whisky Galore (1949) and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969), is born.   Ref:   0719.03(LS)

20|12|1883  Oscar Wilde lectures in Edinburgh on ‘The Value of Art in Modern Life’. Ref:   0720.01(LS)

21|12|1835  Sir John Sinclair, editor of The Statistical Account of Scotland, dies . Ref:   0721.01(LS)

21|12|1892  Rebecca West (Cicily Isabel Fairfield), novelist, is born, Edinburgh.  Ref:   0721.02(LS)

21|12|1968  James Kennaway, author of Tunes of Glory, dies.  Ref:   0721.03(LS)

22|12|1930 Neil Munro, journalist, novelist and poet, dies. His last years were spent living in Helensburgh on the Firth of Clyde.  Ref:   0722.01(LS)

23|12|1812 Samuel Smiles, biographer, born 2.0723.01(LS)

23|12|1856 Hugh Miller, author and geologist, commits suicide.   Ref:   0723.02(LS)

23|12|1955  Carol Ann Duffy, poet, winner of the Whitbread Prize 1993, and the first woman Poet Laureate born, Glasgow .  Ref:   0723.03(LS)

24|12|1889 Charles MacKay, Perth-born journalist and songwriter, who lived at one time at Soroba House, Oban, dies.   Ref:   0724.01(LS)

24|12|1907  The ‘Daft Days’ begin (and end on Hansel Monday, the first Monday of the New Year). ‘The Daft Days’ are the subject of a poem by Robert Fergusson,  which gave Neil Munro the title for his novel of that name, published in 1907.  Ref:   0724.02(LS)

25|12|1665 Lady Grizel Baillie, songwriter, born . Ref:   0725.01(LS)

25|12|1801 William Wilson (1801-60), Perthshire-born poet and Poughkeepsie publisher, is born at Crieff.  Ref:   0725.02(LS)

25|12|1904 J.B.Selkirk [James Brown] (1832-04), poet, dies . Ref:   0725.03(LS)

26|12|1780 Mary Somerville, notable as a nineteenth century writer on scientific subjects, born, Jedburgh.   Ref:   0726.01(LS)

26|12|1947 Liz Lochhead, poet,  born Motherwell, Lanarkshire. Her collections of poetry will include Bagpipe Muzak (1991); her plays will include Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off (1987).  Ref:   0726.01(LS)

27|12|1800 Hugh Blair, poet and critic, dies. He was a leading supporter of James MacPherson’s ‘Ossianic’ poetry.  Ref:   0727.01(LS)

27|12|1904  First performance of Peter Pan by James Barrie.  Ref:   0727.01(LS)

28|12|1835 Archibald Geikie, geologist and miscellaneous writer, is born.  Ref:   0728.01(LS)

**28|12|1859  Thomas Babington Macaulay, historian and MP, dies.  Ref:   0728.01(LS)**

28|12|1908 Alastair Dunnett, newspaper editor, born . Ref:   0728.01(LS)

28|12|1934 Alasdair Gray, artist/novelist, born, Glasgow;  . Ref:   0728.01(LS)

29|12|1822 John Francis Campbell, public servant and folklorist, born,  Islay.   Ref:   0729.01(LS)

30|12|1973  Dorothy E. Stevenson (1892-1973), novelist-daughter of RLS’s cousin David, dies, Moffat.  . Ref:   0730.01(LS)

*31|12|1830 Alexander Smith, poet and author of A Summer In Skye born, Kilmarnock, Ayrshire.  Ref:   0731.01(LS)*

31|12|1868 James David Forbes, author and notable British Alpine traveller, dies.   Ref:   0731.02(LS)

Calendar for A Scottish Literary Year: 57 entries                                 Updated: 150898

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Scottish Literary Calendar: September

August 10, 2009 · Filed under Scottish Literary Calendar · Tagged

 Epigraph:

      And far abune the Angus straths, I saw the wild geese flee,

      A lang, lang skein o’ beatin’ wings wi’ their heids­ towards the sea.

                                                                    Violet Jacob

1|9|1729   Sir Richard Steele, an editor of the original Spectator who became a commissioner for the Forfeited Estates in Scotland, dies. A plaque in Lady Stair’s Close will commemorate his visit to Edinburgh in 1717. He entertained beggars from the High Street in the Bell Tavern opposite.  Ref:   0901.01

1|9|1803    The Wordsworths at Loch Awe where William is inspired to write his Address to Kilchurn Castle, upon Loch Awe.  Ref:   0901.02

2|9|1773    Samuel Johnson and James Boswell arrive on Skye.  Ref:   0902.01  

2|9|1891    Joseph Irving (1830-91), local historian, dies, Paisley.  Ref:   0902.02

2|9|1912    David Daiches, author and critic, is born Edinburgh. Ref: 0902.03

3|9|1830    Lewis Campbell (1830-1908), biographer of Benjamin Jowett, is born Edinburgh.  Ref:   0903.01

3|9|1951    Brian McCabe, poet and novelist, is born, Bonnyrigg. Ref: 0903.02

3|9|1980    Opening of Bryan Forbes’ disaster-prone, but highly successful, production of Macbeth with Peter O’Toole, at the Old Vic in London. Ref: 0903.03

4|9|1835    Rev. Patrick Graham (1750-1835), early mentor to Sir Walter Scott, dies, Aberfoyle. He has provided Scott with much of the background for both The Lady of the Lake (1810), and Rob Roy (1814).  Ref:   0904.01

4|9|1852    William MacGillivray, author and naturalist, dies. He has walked throughout Scotland and from Aberdeen to London, studying flora and fauna in great detail. His masterwork A History of British Birds is completed just before his death.  Ref:   0904.02

4|9|1879    Peter Robert Drummond, Perth bookseller and littérateur, dies.  Ref:   0904.03)

5|9|1750   Robert Fergusson, poet, is born, Edinburgh. He becomes a popular vernacular poet who inspires Robert Burns, who acknowledges his debt to him.  Ref:   0901.02

5|9|1787    Robert Burns at the Fall of Foyers during his Highland Tour. It evokes a ponderous sonnet.  Ref:   0901.02

 

 5|9|1965 Tom Johnston, erstwhile Secretary of State for Scotland, dies. He was a capable journalist and author of Our Noble Families (1909) and A History of the Working Classes in Scotland (1920). Ref:   0901.03

6|9|1803    Samuel Taylor Coleridge, on a walking tour by himself after parting from the Wordsworths, visits Foyers. Ref: 0906.01

6|9|1808    William Livingstone, Bard of Islay, born.  Ref:   0906.02

7|9|1782    Susan Ferrier, novelist, born, Edinburgh. Her most successful novel will be Marriage, and she will be regarded as one of Scotland’s most important women writers.  Ref:   0907.01

7|9|1747    Harriet Beecher Stowe, highly successful American novelist, visits Oban Ref: 0907.02

8|9|1771    James Boswell takes General Paoli, the Corsican patriot, to see Loch Lomond.  Ref:   0908.01

8|9|1775    John Leyden, polymath, born Denholm, Roxburghshire. He will co-operate closely with Scott in putting together The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border. Ref:   0908.02

8|9|1912    Alexander MacKendrick, Scottish film-maker who directed the much-loved film of  Compton MacKenzie’s novel, Whisky Galore, is born, Boston, USA.  Ref: 0908.03   

 9|9|1513    Battle of Flodden Field, the subject of Scott’s Marmion. The best-known version of the noble lament for the battle, Flowers of the Forest, is by Jean Elliot of Minto, published in 1776.  Ref:   0909.01

 9|9|1946   Violet Jacob, distinguished Angus poet and novelist, dies Ref: 0909.02

 9|9|1978   Hugh MacDiarmid, poet, dies.  Ref:   0909.03

10|9|1462    Robert Henryson, poet, is admitted as a member of Glasgow University. Ref: 0910.01.

11|9|1700    James Thomson, poet, is born, Ednam, Roxburghshire Ref: 0911.01.

11|9|1762    Joanna Baillie, dramatist, is born, Bothwell, Lanarkshire Ref: 0911.02.

11|9|1882    Matthew Arnold, poet, visiting the Highlands, writes to his wife enthusiastically describing the Caledonian Canal . Ref:   0911.03.

11|9|1912    Robin Jenkins, novelist, born. He will become the leading Scottish novelist of his generation.   Ref:   0911.04.

12|9|1803    Wordsworth visited what he believed to be ‘Rob Roy’s Grave’ at the head of Loch Katrine, the subject of one of his worst poems.  Ref:   0912.01.  Ref:   0712.01

12|9|1854    Walter Watson, minor poet, born at Calder, Lanarkshire; he dies near Kirkintilloch, aged 74. Ref: 0912.02

12|9|1855    William Sharp, the novelist of the ‘Celtic Twilight’, known as ‘Fiona Macleod’, is born, Paisley, Renfrewshire . Ref:   0912.03.

12|9|1960    Ring of Bright Water by Gavin Maxwell is published. His title is taken from a line by Kathleen Raine, the poet, with whom he enjoyed a tempestuous relationship. Ref:   0912.04.

13|9|1813    Daniel Macmillan, publisher, born, Upper Corrie, Arran . Ref:   0913.01.

13|9|1955    Little Richard recorded the classic version of Tutti Frutti, the theme music for the successful BBC Scotland comedy drama serial of the same name, by Scottish playwright, John Byrne . Ref:   0913.02.

14|1903    Sir Peter Scott, naturalist, and probable author of a famous practical joke, is born. He gave his backing to the purported discovery of a new species in Loch Ness, but the scientific name of the beast was an anagram of ‘Loch Ness Monster Hoax’. Ref:   0914.01. 

14|9|1942    Bernard MacLaverty, ‘Glasgow’ novelist, born, Belfast. Ref:   0914.02.

15|9|1509    Patent granted to Walter Chepman and Andrew Myllar to establish first printing press in Scotland; amongst their first publications were the poems of William Dunbar and Robert Henryson.   Ref:   0915.01.

16|9|1816   (Sir) Theodore Martin, poet and collaborator with W.E.Aytoun, is born, Edinburgh . Ref:   0916.01.

16|9|1834   William Blackwood, publisher, dies. Ref:   0916.02.

17|9|1771    Death of Tobias Smollett, near Leghorn, Italy.  Ref:   0917.01.

18|9|1643   Gilbert Burnet, significant historian of his own times, born, Edinburgh . Ref:   0918.01.

18|9|1848   James Logie Robertson, known as “Hugh Haliburton”, the Homer of the Ochil Hills, born Edinburgh. Ref:   0918.02.

19|9|1721    William Robertson, historian, born at Borthwick . Ref:   0919.01.

19|9|1912    Rebecca West, novelist, then 19 years-old, reviews Marriage by H.G.Wells, whom she dubs an ‘Old Maid among novelists’. Wells asks her to meet him and, by the spring, they will have embarked on a ten-year love affair.   Ref:   0919.02.

20|9|1908    Walter Chalmers Smith, the poet ‘Orwell’, dies, Dunblane . Ref:   0920.01.   Ref:   0720.01

21|9|1742    John Home, playwright, is born, Leith. His play Douglas will evoke the cry “Whaur’s yer Willie Shakespeare noo?”. Ref:   0921.01.

21|9|1832    Sir Walter Scott, novelist and poet, dies at Abbotsford. He will be buried at Dryburgh Abbey. En route, the horses pulling his hearse pause at his favourite view.  Ref:   0921.02.

22|9|1810    Dr John Brown, much-loved and highly regarded essayist, is born, Biggar, Lanarkshire. Ref:   0922.01.

22|9|1906    Edith Holden, whose illustrated Diary of an Edwardian Lady will enjoy great success, describes a walk from Callander to the Lake of Menteith.   Ref:   0922.02.

22|9|1926    Rosamunde Pilcher, novelist, is born, Cornwall. Ref:   0922.03.

23|9| 704     Death of Saint Adamnan, biographer of Saint Columba. Ref:   0923.01

23|9|1856    William Archer, critic, is born, Perth . Ref:   0923.02. 

23|9|1951   Andrew Greig, novelist and poet, is born in Bannockburn, but grows up in Anstruther, Fife. He will be educated at the University of Edinburgh and will be a Glasgow University Writing Fellow. Ref:   0923.03.

23|9|1973   Canongate Press is founded, Edinburgh.  Ref:   0923.04.

24|9|1859    S.R.Crockett, novelist, is born . Ref:   0924.01

25|9|1844    Lord Cockburn, diarist, recorded a visit to the ‘monument raised a few years ago’ to James Clement, Covenanter, who, with four others, was shot dead on 21st February, 1685 on Kirkconnell Moor in the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright. Ref:   0925.01.

26|9|1875    Queen Victoria describes visiting the waterfalls in Glen Aray in her Journal .  Ref:   0926.01.

27|9|1827    Sheriff Alexander Nicolson, Gaelic scholar and poet, born.   Ref:   0927.01.

27|9|1898    Joseph Conrad, novelist, in Glasgow where he meets Neil Munro and Cunninghame Graham.  Ref:   0927.02.

27|9|1957    Irvine Welsh, novelist, is born. He will achieve cult status with the publication of his novel Trainspotting . Ref:   0927.03.

28|9|1747   Kate Douglas Wiggin, novelist, is born, Philadelphia. She will twice collaborate on novels with the Findlater Sisters, The Affair at the Inn (1904) and Robinetta (1911).  Ref:   0928.01.

28|9|1864   Charles Murray, poet, is born Alford.   Ref:   0928.02.

28|9|1881    Gerard Manley Hopkins visits Inversnaid, Loch Lomond, and is inspired to write the most famous of all waterfall poems.   Ref:   0928.03.

29|9|1582     George Buchanan, philosopher and author, dies, Edinburgh.   Ref:   0929.01.

29|9|1902     William McGonagall, poet, dies, Edinburgh.  Ref:   0929.02.

30|9|1906    J.I.M Stewart, the celebrated detective-story writer ‘Michael Innes’, is born, Edinburgh. His detective is Inspector Appleby.  Ref:   0930.01.

Database: 67 entries                                                  Updated: 020909

 

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