James Shaw was born in

Barrhead Barrhead ( sco, Baurheid, gd, Ceann a' Bharra) is a town in East Renfrewshire, Scotland, southwest of Glasgow city centre on the edge of the Gleniffer Braes. At the 2011 census its population was 17,268. History Barrhead was formed when ...

on 22 April 1826. After a career as a calico printer Shaw undertook training as a

schoolmaster The word schoolmaster, or simply master, refers to a male school teacher. This usage survives in British independent schools, both secondary and preparatory, and a few Indian boarding schools (such as The Doon School) that were modelled afte ...

and after a brief period of employment in Dovecothall School, in the lower part of

Abbey Parish Abbey, or sometimes Abbey Paisley, is a civil parish in Renfrewshire, Scotland traditionally centred on the towns of Paisley and Johnstone and including the smaller settlements of Elderslie, Inkerman, Hurlet, Nitshill, the Dovecothall area of B ...

, he took up an appointment in

Tynron Tynron is a village and civil parish in Dumfries and Galloway, south-west Scotland, lying in a hollow of the Shinnel Water, from Moniaive. At Tynron Doon there can be seen the ditches and ramparts of a Roman Iron Age hillfort. The name Tyn ...

Parish School, in

Dumfriesshire Dumfriesshire or the County of Dumfries or Shire of Dumfries (''Siorrachd Dhùn Phris'' in Gaelic) is a historic county and registration county in southern Scotland. The Dumfries lieutenancy area covers a similar area to the historic county. I ...

, where he remained until his death in 1896. Shaw's extensive writing was gathered together into a single volume, A Country Schoolmaster, by Robert Wallace, Professor of Agriculture and Rural Economy at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

. In this volume Shaw's extensive thoughts on nature, science and the arts are brought together. Shaw was a member of the Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society, wrote for various newspapers including the Dumfries Herald and corresponded with some of the great thinkers of his age including

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended fr ...

and

George Henry Lewes George Henry Lewes (; 18 April 1817 – 30 November 1878) was an English philosopher and critic of literature and theatre. He was also an amateur physiologist. American feminist Margaret Fuller called Lewes a "witty, French, flippant sort of m ...

References

{{authority control People from Barrhead Scottish writers