Scottish Literary Calendar: August
Epigraph
Will ye gang wi’ me and fare’
To the bush abune Traquair?
Owre the high Minchmuir we’ll up and awa’,
This bonny summer noon,
While the sun shines fair abune,
And the licht sklents saftly doun on holm and ha’.
John Campbell Shairp
1|8|1740 The masque Alfred is performed in the gardens of Cliveden to celebrate both the birthday of the Princess Augusta, and the anniversary of George I’s accession. The lyrics, including the song ‘Rule Britannia’, are written by two Scotsmen, James Thomson and David Malloch. Ref:0801.01(LS)
1|8|1819 Herman Melville, novelist, is born in New York. In 1856 he will visit Scotland in search of his ancestors. Ref:0801.02(LS)
1|8|1822 James Grant (1822-1887), author and early Scottish Nationalist, is born. His many popular novels will include The Yellow Frigate. Ref:0801.03(LS)
1|8|1919 Doubleday publish nine-year-old Daisy Ashford’s The Young Visiters; with a preface by Sir James Barrie – leading the public to believe Barrie to be the real author of the book. Ref:0801.04(LS)
2|8|1787 Robert Burns writes to Dr. John Moore, author of Zeluco, the autobiographical letter which is the main authority for his early life. Ref:0802.01(LS)
2|8|1818 John Keats climbs Ben Nevis. Ref:0802.02(LS)
3|8|1305 William Wallace captured by the False Menteith, the subject of several poems, and various plays, notably Wallace (1960) by Sidney Goodsir Smith (1915-75). Ref:0803.01(LS)
4|8|1865 William Edmonstone Aytoun, poet and humourist, dies at Blackhills near Elgin Ref:0804.01(LS)
4|8|1792 Edward Irving, the Divine, who becomes a friend of Thomas Carlyle, is born at Annan, Dumfries-shire. Ref:0804.02(LS)
5|8|1778 Robert Mackay (Rob Donn Macaoidh), rebellious poet, dies at the foot of Ben Hope, in Sutherlandshire Ref:0805.01(LS)
5|8|1921 Derick Thomson, poet and leading modern authority on Gaelic literature, born, near Stornoway, Lewis. Ref:0805.02(LS)
6|8|1844 A festival “in honour of the genius of Burns” is held at Ayr. The distinguished Scottish author John Wilson (pen name ‘Christopher North’) gives an address which he begins by enumerating Burns’s shortcomings. He is so verbose that the crowd jeers him, and he is obliged to stop before he can go on to speak of the poet’s achievements. Ref:0806.01(LS)
6|8|1864 Catherine Sinclair, novelist, dies Ref:0806.03(LS)
7|8|1764 James Boswell, 24, arrives in Holland, having promised himself to “go abroad with manly resolution to improve, and correspond with Johnson,” whom he has recently met. Ref:0807.01(LS)
7|8|1879 Robert Louis Stevenson, in pursuit of his future wife, embarks at Greenock on the steamship Devonia bound for New York. En voyage he writes the greater part of The Story of A Lie. His account of the trip and of his fellow passengers appears as The Amateur Immigrant Ref:0807.02(LS)
8|8|1503 Marriage of James IV and Margaret Tudor, the subject of The Thrissell and the Rois, by William Dunbar, poet, who helped to negotiate the match. Ref:0808.01(LS)
8|8|1829 Mendelssohn visits Staffa. His letters suggest that he thought of the memorable opening bars of the Hebridean Overture the day before, when he was in Oban. Ref:0809.02(LS)
8|8|1921 Ian Grimble, broadcaster and miscellaneous writer about many Scottish subjects, is born Ref:0808.03(LS)
9|8|1885 James Grant (1840-1885), antiquary, is born in Glen Urquhart, dies in Newcastle. He is buried in his native glen four days later. Ref:0809.01(LS)
10|8|1924 Jan Webster, novelist, is born, Blantyre. Ref:0810.01(LS)
10|8|1925 Alistair Mackie, poet, is born, Aberdeen. His highly regarded poetry collection Clytach will appear in 1972. Ref:0810.02(LS)
10|8|1926 D.H. Lawrence, novelist, at Newtonmore. Ref:0810.03(LS)
11|8|1856 Prosper Mérimée, the French novelist, and inspector of historical monuments, is the guest of Edward Ellice, at Glenquoich in Ross-shire, ‘a devilish place which is represented to me as inhabited by savages to whom bread is unknown.’ Ref:0811.01(LS)
11|8|1892 Hugh MacDiarmid, (the pseudonym of Christopher Murray Grieve) pre-eminent Scottish poet of the first half of the 20th century and leader of the Scottish literary renaissance, is born in Langholm, Dumfriesshire. He will reject English as a medium for his poetry but use it in Stony Limits (1934) and Second Hymn to Lenin (1935). Ref:0811.02(LS)
11|8|1919 Andrew Carnegie, the Dunfermline-born philanthropist who set aside substantial funds for the establishment of public libraries in Scotland, dies in Lennox, Massachusetts. Ref:0811.03(LS)
12|8|1774 Robert Southey, who will be appointed poet laureate in 1813, is born in Bristol. In 1819 he will make a triumphant Tour of Scotland with Thomas Telford, the engineer, and compose commemorative plaques to celebrate the opening of the Caledonian Canal. Ref:0812.01(LS)
12|8|1778 Francis Horner, critic, the eldest son of an Edinburgh merchant, is born. With Francis Jeffrey, and Sydney Smith he will found the Edinburgh Review. The first number will appear in November 1802, with four articles by Horner Ref:0812.02(LS)
13|8|1618 John Taylor, the ‘Water Poet’ arrives in Edinburgh Ref:0813.01(LS)
13|8|1867 (Sir) William Craigie (1867-1957), distinguished lexicographer of the English, American, and Scottish tongues, is born, Dundee Ref:0813.02(LS)
13|8|1871 Ivan Turgenev, the Russian novelist in Scotland for the Scott Centenary, injures his leg grouse shooting while staying at Allean House in Perthshire. At the celebrations he is introduced as ‘Mr. Turkeynuff’. Ref:0813.03(LS)
13|8|1934 Hamish Brown, author and mountaineer, is born. He will be the first to climb all the highest mountains in Scotland, known as ‘Munros’, in a single expedition, and describe his experiences in Hamish’s Mountain Walk. Ref:0813.04(LS)
14|8|1773 Samuel Johnson arrives in Edinburgh, and meets Boswell‘s wife, who complains of his manners and her husband’s relationship with him: “I have seen many a bear led by a man, but I never before saw a man led by a bear.” Ref:0814.01(LS)
14|8|1822 Walter Scott welcomes George IV to Edinburgh, and, later the same day meets Crabbe, the poet. In his excitement, he sits, by mistake, on a glass which George IV has given him as a souvenir of this historic occasion. Ref:0814.02(LS)
15|8|1771 (Sir) Walter Scott is born. Ref:0815.01(LS)
15|8|1782 William Nicholson, the Galloway poet, is born near Borgue Ref:0815.02(LS)
16|8|1766 Carolina Oliphant, Baroness Nairne, is born Gask, Perthshire Ref:0816.01(LS)
17|8|1851 Henry Drummond, author of The Ascent of Man is born, Stirling. Ref:0817.01(LS)
17|8|1917 Wilfred Owen (1893-1918) and Siegfried Sassoon (1886-1967), both convalescing from battle fatigue at the Craiglockhart War Hospital, meet and form a brief, intense friendship. Ref:0817.02(LS)
17|8|1958 L.A.G. Strong (1896-1958), the Cornish writer who set several novels in the West Highlands dies. Ref:0817.03(LS)
18|8|1773 Boswell and Johnson embark on their seven-week tour of the Hebrides. Ref:0818.01(LS)
18|8|1803 James Beattie, poet and professor of moral philosophy, dies. At one time he was the parish schoolmaster at Fordoun, Kincardineshire, and his epic poem The Minstrel (1771-74) describes the scenery of the district. Ref:0818.02(LS)
18|8|1946 Marion Angus, poet, dies, aged 80. Although she was born, and spent much of her life in Aberdeen, her ashes are scattered off Elliot Point, Arbroath where she was brought up. Ref:0818.03(LS)
18|8|1971 Peter Fleming, travel-writer, dies, Black Mount. Ref:0818.04(LS)
19|8|1560 James (The Admirable) Crichton is born Dumfries-shire Ref:0819.01(LS)
19|8|1947 George Orwell, living on the Isle of Jura, narrowly escapes drowning in the Corryvrechan. Ref:0819.02(LS)
19|8|1914 Alexander Reid, poet, is born Edinburgh Ref:0819.03(LS)
20|8|1877 William Miller, Glasgow author of Wee Willie Winkie and other poems dies. Ref:0820.01(LS)
21|8|1983 First Edinburgh Book Festival begins. Ref:0821.01(LS)
22|8|1809 John Hill Burton (1809-81), historian, is born in Aberdeen. Ref:0822.01(LS)
22|8|1870 Robert Browning at Tummel Bridge where he meets Benjamin Jowett. Ref:0822.02(LS)
22|8|1944 Tom Leonard, poet, is born in Glasgow. His controversial poem The Good Thief will set the Crucifiction in Glasgow. Ref:0822.03(LS)
23|8|1849 William Ernest Henley, poet and friend and collaborator with Stevenson, is born. Ref:0823.01(LS)
24|8|1580 John Taylor, the “water poet”, who made a Pennyless Pilgrimage to Scotland, is born, London. Ref:0824.01(LS)
24|8|1805 Rev. Alexander Carlyle, diarist dies. His Autobiography provides a vivid account of late eighteenth century Edinburgh. Ref:0824.02(LS)
24|8|1923 Kate Douglas Wiggin, American novelist who has collaborated with the Findlater sisters in Scotland, dies, Harrow. Ref:0824.03(LS)
24|8|1923 Dorothy Dunnett, painter and historical novelist, is born Ref:0824.04(LS)
24|8|1826 Elizabeth Sutherland, folklorist, is born Ref:0824.05(LS)
25|8|1776 Scottish philosopher (Treatise of Human Nature) and historian (History of England) David Hume dies in Edinburgh at the age of 65. Ref:0825.01(LS)
25|8|1833 Ralph Waldo Emerson, the New England philosopher and poet, seeks out Thomas Carlyle, at Craigenputtock, is invited to stay for a day, and initiates a lifelong friendship. Ref:0825.02(LS)
25|8|1836 Bret Harte (The Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Sketches) is born in Albany, New York. Leaving school at 13 to go to work, he will travel to California before moving to New York to pursue a writing career. He serves as American consul in Glasgow. Ref:0825.03(LS)
25|8|1860 William Wilson (1801-60), Crieff-born poet and Poughkeepsie publisher, dies Ref:0825.04(LS)
25|8|1881 Robert Louis Stevenson reports that he has begun Treasure Island, Braemar. Ref:0825.05(LS)
26|8|1857 Christian Johnstone, journalist and novelist, dies, Edinburgh Ref:0826.01(LS)
26|8|1875 John Buchan, the novelist, and biographer of Cromwell, Montrose and others is born in Perth, Scotland. He will write ‘shockers’ like The 39 Steps and more serious novels such as Witch Wood. Ref:0826.02(LS)
27|8|1748 James Thomson (1700-1748), poet, dies, Richmond. Ref:0827.01(LS)
27|8|1787 Robert Burns meets Charlotte Hamilton at Harviestoun, and accompanies her on a visit to Cauldron Linn on the River Devon. Ref:0827.02(LS)
27|8|1932 Lady Antonia Fraser, biographer of Mary Queen of Scots, is born. Ref:0827.03(LS)
28|8|1803 The Wordsworths at Inversnaid. Ref:0828.01(LS)
28|8|1811 Percy Byche Shelley, poet, marries Harriet Westbrook, Edinburgh. Ref:0828.02(LS)
28|8|1811 John Leyden, polymath, dies from a fever caught in an unventilated library in Java. Ref:0828.03(LS)
28|8|1902 George Douglas Brown, Ayrshire author of the ground-breaking novel The House With Green Shutters (1901), dies of pneumonia aged 33 years. Ref:0828.04(LS)
29|8|1839 Benjamin Disraeli, novelist and Prime Minister, attends the disastrous Eglinton Tournament. He describes it in his novel Endymion (1880).Ref:0830.01(LS)
29|8|1892 William Forbes Skene (1809-92), author of Celtic Scotland, dies in Edinburgh. Ref:0829.02(LS)
29|8|1961 George Blake, novelist and manager of the Porpoise Press, dies Ref:0829.03(LS)
30|8|1797 Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin (later Mary Shelley), author of Frankenstein, is born in London, the daughter of radical philosopher William Godwin and feminist Mary Wollstonecraft. At 15 she will go to live in Broughty Ferry near Dundee. She is ‘singularly bold, somewhat imperious, and active of mind. Her desire of knowledge is great, and her perseverance in everything she undertakes almost invincible.’ [Godwin] Ref: 0830.03(LS)
30|8|1816 Washington Irving (1783-1859), considered the first successful American-born writer, of Orcadian parentage, visits Sir Walter Scott at Abbotsford. Ref:0830.02(LS)
30|8|1875 William Power (1875-1951), critic, is born. Ref:0830.03(LS)
31|8|1769 Thomas Pennant visits Loch Ness, and reports that ‘that rare bird’, the Capercaillie, is still to be met with in Glenmoriston. Ref:0831.01(LS)
Louis Stott Database: 78 entries Updated: 061098
