Scottish Literary Calendar: March
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Fra whaur in fragrant wuds ye bide Secure fra winter care, Come, gentle Spring, to Ochilside And Ochil valleys fair. James Logie Robertson
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1|3|1848 Augustus St Gaudens (1848-1907), the American sculptor whose medallion in St Giles Cathedral portraying R.L. Stevenson forms the principal memorial to that writer in his native city of Edinburgh, is born. Ref : 0301.01
1|3|1910 David Niven, whose witty autobiographies were The Moon’s A Balloon (1971) and Bring On The Empty Horses (1975), is born, allegedly, in Kirriemuir, in fact, in London. Ref: 0301.02
2|3|1895 John Stuart Blackie, academic and poet, dies, Edinburgh. Ref : 0302.01
2|3|1931 Anthony Kamm, author and editor, is born, London. He will marry Eileen Dunlop, author of adventure stories for children, and collaborate with her in writing books for children on Scottish themes. Ref : 0302.02
2|3|1975 Helen Burness Cruikshank, poet and pivot of the ‘Modern Scottish Renaissance’ dies, Edinburgh. Ref : 0302.03
3|3|1878 David Lindsay, author of Voyage of Arcturus (1920), is born. Ref : 0303.01
3|3|1955 Lewis Spence (1874-1955), Angus-born folklorist, dies in Edinburgh. Ref: 0303.02
4|3|1757 George Thomson, song-collector is born, Limekilns, Fife. Ref: 0304.01
4|3|1906 Thomas Douglas MacDonald, ‘Fionn MacColla’, is born, Montrose. His powerful novels will examine such themes as Calvinism and the Highland Clearances. Ref : 0304.02
5|3|1778 Death of Dr Thomas Arne, composer of Rule Britannia (1740), the words for which were written by one or other of two Scots, either David Malloch or, more probably, James Thomson (1700-48). Ref: 0305.01
6|3|1805 John Colquhoun, author of The Moor and the Loch (1840) is born, Edinburgh. Ref: 0306.01
6|3|1843 M.J.B. Baddeley (1843-1906), the ironic travel writer who tried to save the Falls of Foyers, is born. Ref: 0306.02
7|3|1952 William Boyd, novelist with family connections with Cupar in Fife, is born, Ghana. Ref: 0307.01
8|3|1708 John Campbell (of Glenlyon), miscellaneous writer, admired by Samuel Johnson, is born, Edinburgh. Ref: 0308.01
8|3|1859 Kenneth Grahame, author of The Wind in the Willows (1908), is born, Edinburgh Ref: 0308.02
8|3|1899 Eric Linklater, novelist, author of Poet’s Pub (1929), and Juan in America (1931), is born, at Penarth, in Wales, a fact which he disguised for much of his life because he rightly regarded himself as an Orcadian Ref: 0308.03
8|3|1930 Douglas Hurd, politician and co-author of the political thriller Scotch on the Rocks (1971), is born. Ref: 0308.04
9|3|1948 W.J.Watson, author of Celtic Place-names of Scotland, dies. Ref: 0309.01
10|3|1823 Colonel Thomas Thornton, author and sportsman dies, Paris. In 1804 he had published A Sporting Tour through the Northern Parts of England and Great Part of the Highlands of Scotland. Ref: 0310.01
10|3|1871 Robert Chambers, author and publisher, dies. Ref: 03 10.02
10|3|1909 George Bruce, poet, is born Fraserburgh. His poetry will evoke the landscapes and seascapes of Buchan. Ref: 0310.03
11|3|1901 (Sir) Fitzroy Maclean, soldier, politician and miscellaneous writer, is born. Ref: 0311.01
12|3|1818 First performance of Rob Roy, a play adapted from Scott’s novel, Covent Garden Theatre, London. Ref: 0312.01
12|3|1900 Alicia Anne Spottiswood (Lady Scott), author of the beautiful song Annie Laurie dies. Ref: 0312.02
12|3|1927 A plaque commemorating the meeting between Robert Burns and the young Walter Scott in 1786, is erected at Sciennes Hill House, Edinburgh, an event also celebrated in the oil painting by Charles Martin Hardie Ref: 0312.03
13|3|1395 John Barbour, poet, dies, Aberdeen. His epic poem The Bruce (circa 1377) will be a principal source of information about the life of the Scottish hero. Ref: 0313.01
13|3|1890 Willa Muir (Wilhelmina Anderson), writer, is born, Montrose. In 1919 she will marry Edwin Muir and collaborate with him in translating much great European literature. Ref: 0313.02
13|3|1898 Sir William Fraser (1816-98), Kincardine-shire born author of Scottish family histories, dies Ref: 0313.03
14|3|1788 Robert Burns wrote to Miss Chalmers announcing that he was taking Ellisland, the farm where many of his most famous poems were composed. Ref: 0314.01
**14|3|1826 Sir Walter Scott compares his novels with Jane Austen’s “the exquisite touch, which renders ordinary commonplace things and characters interesting…is denied me” [TH] Ref: 0314.02**
14|3|1879 Harold Edward Monro (1879-1932), poet of Scottish extraction, and founder of the highly influential Poetry Bookshop in Holborn, London is born at St. Gilles, near Brussels.
Ref: 0314.03
15|3|1818 <strong>Hector McNeill</strong>, poet, dies, Edinburgh. Ref: 0315.01
*15|3|1820 In his <em>Journal</em> <strong>Lord Byron</strong> describes John Keats as “a tadpole of the Lakes”.[TH]Ref: 0315.02*
15|3|1912 <strong>Sydney Tremayne</strong>, journalist and nature poet, born, Ayr. Ref : 0315.03
**15|3|1983 <strong>Rebecca West, </strong>novelist<strong>,</strong> dies in London, aged 91.[TH] In the 1950s Stevie Smith (1902-71) said of her, “I would not call Miss West a feminist because this suggests – and is meant to – an aggrieved and strident person. I would say she is on the side of women.”Ref: 0315.04**
16|3|1860 <strong>Hugh MacDonald</strong> (1817-1860), poet and author of <em>Rambles Round Glasgow</em>, dies. Ref : 0316.01
16|3|1899 <strong>Alexander B. Grosart</strong>, Stirling-born editor of Scottish poetry, dies, Dublin. Ref : 0316.02
16|3|1926 <strong>Alasdair Maclean</strong>, poet and biographer who wrote <em>Night Falls in Ardnamurchan</em>, is born, Glasgow. Ref : 0316.03
17|3|1715 <strong>Gilbert Burnet</strong> , historian, dies, Clerkenwell. In 1723 his influential <em>History of my Own Times</em> will be published. Ref: 0317.01
17|3|1780 <strong>Thomas Chalmers</strong>, divine, is born, Anstruther, Fife. Ref: 0317.02
18|3|1913 <strong>W.H.Murray</strong> (who dies 19 March, 1996), author and mountaineer, is born. Ref: 0318.01
19|3|1721 <strong>Tobias Smollett</strong>, the novelist who will write <em>The Expedition of Humphry Clinker</em>, is baptised in the parish kirk of Cardross, Dumbartonshire. Ref: 0319.01
19|3|1946 <strong>Catherine Carswell</strong> (1879-1946), novelist and author of the best biography of Robert Burns, dies. Ref: 0319.02
20|3|1724 <strong>Duncan Ban Macintyre </strong>(Donnchadh<strong> </strong>Ban Mac an t-Saoir), eminent Gaelic poet, is born, Glen Orchy. His best-known poem In Praise of Ben Doran will be translated by <em>Hugh MacDiarmid</em> and <em>Iain Crichton-Smith</em>. Ref : 0320.01
20|3|1885 <strong>Marian McNeill</strong>, folklorist, born in Orkney. Ref : 0320.02
20|3|1919 <strong>William MacLellan</strong>, publisher of the Scottish poets, novelists and dramatists of the post-war years, is born, Glasgow. Ref : 0320.03
20|3|1936 <strong>R. B. Cunninghame Graham</strong>, radical politician and miscellaneous writer, dies in Buenos Aires. Many of his short stories were set in Menteith in Perthshire where he will be buried. Ref: 0320.04
*21|3|1843 <strong>Robert Southey</strong>, the poet laureate who made a memorable <em>Highland Tour</em> in 1819 with Thomas Telford, dies at Greta Hall, Keswick. Ref : 0321.01*
22|3|1808 <strong>Caroline Norton</strong>, Scottish novelist and poet, and advocate of women’s rights, is born London Ref: 0322.01
22|3|1960 <strong>John George Bartholemew</strong>, map-maker, is born. Ref : 0322.01
23|3|1909 <strong>John Davidson</strong>, poet, committed suicide in Penzance. Ref : 0323.01
23|3|1914 <em>Campbell of Kilmohr </em>by <strong>John A. Ferguson </strong>first produced at the Royalty Theatre, Glasgow. Ref: 0323.02
24|3|1877 <strong>Anna Buchan, </strong>novelist, born Pathhead, Kirkcaldy Ref: 032401
24|3|1901 <strong>Moray Maclaren</strong>, miscellaneous writer, born, Walker Street, Edinburgh Ref: 0324.01
25|3|1827 <strong>Edward Bradley</strong>, author of <em>Travels in Tartan Land</em>, born. Ref : 0325.01
25|3|1880 <strong>George Brown</strong>, the distinguished Edinburgh-born journalist and Canadian politician, is shot in the offices of his newspaper, the <em>Toronto Globe</em>, by a disgruntled employee; he will die on 9th May. Ref : 0325.02
26|3|1834 Death of <strong>Jean Armour</strong>, widow of Robert Burns. Ref : 0326.01
26|3|1865 <strong>Mary Findlater</strong>, novelist, is born Lochearnhead, Perthshire. Ref : 0326.02
27|3|1746 <strong>Michael Bruce</strong>, the early ‘nature’ poet who may well have inspired William Wordsworth, is born, Kinnesswood, Kinross-shire. Ref : 0327.01
27|3|1814 <strong>Charles Mackay</strong>, journalist and popular song-writer, is born Perth. Ref : 0327.01
28|3|1803 <strong>EglantineWallace</strong>,Wigtownshire dramatist, dies in Munich. Ref : 0328.01
28|3|1847 <strong>R.A.M. Stevenson</strong>, RLS’s cousin who wrote a memorable book about <em>Velasquez</em>, is born Ref: 0328.01
29|3|1822 <strong>Ewan MacLachlan,</strong> Gaelic poet, translator of Homer, and librarian of King’s College, Aberdeen, dies. He will be commemorated by an obelisk at Fort William, Inverness-shire. Ref : 0329.01
29|3|1957 <strong>Joyce Cary</strong>, novelist, educated at Edinburgh School of Art, dies. Ref: 0329.02
30|3|1546 (Rev) <strong>Alexander Barclay</strong> ([?]1475-1552), the exiled Scottish poet who wrote <em>The Ship of Fools</em>, was presented with the vicarage of Wookey, in Somerset.
. Ref : 0330.01
**30|3|1763 After dining with his fellow Scot the Earl of Eglinton, James Boswell observes in his London Journal: “We drank tea. We talked on human happiness. I said I wondered if any man ever passed a whole day pleasantly.” [TH] Ref: 0330.02**
30|3|1820 Walter Scott goes to London, and kisses the new king’s hands who thereby confers a baronetcy on him. At the same time George IV directs Lawrence to paint a portrait of the author.| Ref: 0330.03
30|3|1874 Robert Louis Stevenson, on his last night in Menton, writes to Fanny Sitwell, describing one of his first published essays, Ordered South. Ref : 0330.04
31|3|1844 Andrew Lang, historian, critic, poet, psychical researcher and compiler of Fairy Books, is born, at Selkirk. By the turn of the century he will occupy a highly influential position in English literature. Ref : 0331.01
31|3|1861 Death of Lady Charlotte Bury, novelist daughter of the Duke of Argyll, in London. Ref : 0331.02
31|3|1878 Frederick Niven, Glasgow novelist, is born. He will emigrate to Canada which will provide the setting for many of his books. Ref : 0331.03
Database: 70 entries
Updated: 310809
