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FAMOUS PEOPLE

Literature

ROBERT BURNS (1759 - 1796)

JAMES BOSWELL (1740 - 1795)

Born in Edinburgh on the 29th October 1740, James Boswell had a career in law mapped out by his father. After education at a private school, Edinburgh University and Glasgow University, he practised law in the capital city.

Boswell longed to live in London and lived there for a few months in 1760. It was during another stay in London beginning in 1762, after passing his exams in civil law, that Boswell first met Dr. Samuel Johnson on 16th May 1763. Boswell was fascinated by the mind of Johnson. From 1766 to 1785 Boswell was an advocate in Edinburgh before moving to London permanently c1785. In 1769 he had married his cousin Margaret Montgomerie at Lainshaw.

In August 1763 Boswell embarked upon a 2½ year long Grand Tour of Europe. He later persuaded Samuel Johnson to make a tour of Scotland with him and the two men visited Auchinleck in 1773 on their return from their Hebridean Tour.

On the death of his father in 1782, James Boswell inherited the family estates at Auchinleck. He became a capable and well-liked Laird. For many years Boswell worked on his famous works "Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, 1785", and "Life of Johnson 1791".

Both works received critical acclaim and throughout the 19th century Boswell's name was famous for producing these works. James Boswell died in London in 1795 a few years after the publication and success of "Life of Johnson".

STEWART CONN(b.1936)

Stewart Conn was born in Glasgow in 1936 and moved to Kilmarnock, Ayrshire in 1942 where his family had roots close by at Craigie Hill. Stewart's immediate family moved to Kilmarnock when his father, the Rev. Dr John Conn, was appointed minister of St Marnock's Church. Stewart attended Kilmarnock Academy and his school record is still preserved there. He took several Highers and he was involved in producing the school magazine, Goldberry.

He attended Glasgow University and after studying for his degree he did National Service in the Royal Air Force. He then worked for BBC Radio and was appointed Senior Drama Producer for BBC Radio Scotland in 1977. His first poetry collection - Thunder in the Air - was published in 1967 and he has continued to publish collections ever since - his most recent publication being Distances : an evocation of people and places.

He used his Ayrshire experience for his early works and it also features in his 1995 collection - In the Blood. He is also a distinguished playwright, with The Burning first performed in 1971 and Herman (1981).
On 30th May 2002 he was honoured as the first Edinburgh Makar (poet laureate of Edinburgh) a post he will hold for 3 years. This honour is a recognition of the quality of Stewart's work over the years and the fact that he is regarded as a significant contemporary Scottish voice. The appointment also recognises his long association with Edinburgh which has been his home for 25 years.

GEORGE DOUGLAS BROWN (1869-1902)

George Douglas Brown, who sometimes wrote under the pen names Kennedy King and George Douglas, was born on 26th January 1869 in Ochiltree, Ayrshire to George Douglas Brown, a farmer, and Sarah Gemmel a farm-servant of Irish descent. Brown was illegitimate. He was educated at local schools in Ochiltree and Coylton, attending Ayr Academy from 1883. From 1887-1890 he studied at the University of Glasgow, taking a First in Classics and in 1891 he won a scholarship to Balliol College, Oxford. Although maintaining his academic record, he did not enjoy Oxford, feeling that he did not fit in socially. Before he was due to sit his final examinations, he returned to Ayrshire to nurse his mother in her last illness; the consequent mixture of stress and grief contributed to his taking only a third class degree in the examinations of 1895.

Brown settled in London and made his living by journalism and teaching. In 1899 he published Love and a sword under the pen name "Kennedy King". He contributed a mixture of short fictions and critical articles to various journals including Blackwood's magazine. In the autumn of 1900 he began writing the book for which he became famous, The House with the green shutters . Brown's health failed in 1902 and he died at the London home of his friend Andrew Melrose. He was buried in Ayr, beside his mother.

JOHN MACINTOSH (1853-1932)

John Macintosh was born in Galston in June 1853 to John Macintosh and Margaret Aird.

His obituary in the Kilmarnock Standard of 5 th March 1932 includes the following information :-

Notable Galston Man - Death of Mr John Macintosh: poet, author and artist
A notable Galston man, Mr John Macintosh, passed to his rest on Thursday morning (3 rd March) in the 78 th year of his life. Mr Macintosh was born at Strath Mill, where he lived all his days, and where his forbears carried on the business of paper making for a long period. Mr Macintosh served his apprenticeship as an architect, and for a time he followed that profession in the Valley of Irvine, but later he took over the paper mill, and also devoted himself to literary and artistic work. He published four books Historical review of Galston and Loudoun Parishes; Ayrshire Poets; Ayrshire Night's Entertainment and Irvinedale Chimes.

He was the author of many articles on a wide range of subjects, and these appeared in journals and magazines all over the country. For a long series of years he was a regular contributor to the columns of the Kilmarnock Standard. An ardent admirer of Robert Burns, he wrote a great deal on the life and works of the national poet, on which he was an acknowledged authority. Mr Macintosh also devoted a good deal of time to painting (especially after the stoppage of Strath Mill many years ago), and his pictures, both in oils and water-colours, gave abundant evidence of his artistic taste and skill and temperament. He also indulged in the hobby of violin-making, in which he displayed a wonderful amount of deftness and skill. Mr Macintosh was never married, and he and his sister stayed together at Strath Mill.

ROBERT TANNAHILL (1774-1810)

In 1756 James Tannahill left Kilmarnock for Paisley to find work in the textile trade. He met Janet Pollock of Lochwinnoch, and the couple married there in 1763. Their son Robert Tannahill, the fifth of eight children, was born on 3rd June 1774 at Castle Street, Paisley. His education consisted of rudimentary reading, writing and accounting at what was called an "English" school. He taught himself the German flute and read widely, having had a talent for verse from an early age. Later, he would develop an interest in theatre, going regularly to performances in Glasgow. In his twelfth year he was apprenticed to his father (Robert was a weaver all his life).

The family had earlier moved to the cottage in Queen Street, Paisley, which was to remain Tannahill's home, except for two years in Bolton between 1800 and 1802. Soon after returning from Bolton his father died and in the eight years following most of his published work was written. He composed new lyrics to existing airs and had a love of Irish music. With his work growing in popularity, "The Soldiers return", a Scottish interlude in two acts, with other poems and songs, was published in 1807. Much of his writing was inspired by the countryside surrounding Paisley, where the poet took regular walks, despite a deformity of the right leg. Songs such as The Braes O' Gleniffer and The Flower O' Levern side refer to local landmarks and poems like Will MacNeil's elegy and Allan's ale feature local people.

That he often wrote about soldiers was perhaps due to the impact of recruitment to Scottish Militia Regiments on his everyday life. He composed Loudoun's Bonnie Woods and Braes in 1807 in honour of Earl Moira, later the Marquis of Hastings. Tannahill was prone to bouts of melancholy. An Edinburgh publisher rejected his 1810 manuscript, and distressed he "consigned to the flames" as many of his writings as he could. His body was found in a side tunnel of the Candren Burn, near his home, on 17th May 1810.