John Mactaggart (26 June 1791 – 8 January 1830) was a Scottish writer and engineer born near

Plunton Castle Plunton Castle is a ruined L-plan tower house between Kirkandrews, Dumfries and Galloway, Kirkandrews and Gatehouse of Fleet in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. Built around 1575 for the Clan Lennox, Lennoxes of Plunton, it passed by marriage t ...

in the parish of Borgue. He is best known for writing ''

The Scottish Gallovidian Encyclopedia ''The Scottish Gallovidian Encyclopedia'' is a wide-ranging reference work written by John Mactaggart, published in 1824 and reissued after the author's death in a run of 250 copies in 1876. The scope of the work is given by its full title: ''Th ...

'', a wide-ranging and idiosyncratic reference work covering local words, places, traditions, and songs collected in and around Galloway. Mactaggart studied at the University of Edinburgh for one session but didn't return. Away from Edinburgh he "learned the engineering", working on John Rennie's

Plymouth Breakwater Plymouth Breakwater is a stone breakwater protecting Plymouth Sound and the anchorages near Plymouth, Devon, England. It is wide at the top and the base is . It lies in about of water. Around 4 million tons of rock were used in its construct ...

. Through this work he was recommended to the post of clerk of works on the

Rideau Canal The Rideau Canal, also known unofficially as the Rideau Waterway, connects Canada's capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, to Lake Ontario and the Saint Lawrence River at Kingston. It is 202 kilometres long. The name ''Rideau'', French for "curtain", ...

, in Canada. Mactaggart arrived in Canada in August 1826. In addition to his work on the canal project he wrote several newspaper articles and was elected to the Natural History Society of Montreal. In 1828 Mactaggart suffered from an epidemic fever. He was subsequently dismissed for "being drunk on duty" and returned from Canada to England in later that year. In 1829 Mactaggart published ''Three Years in Canada.'' Mactagggart died on 8 January 1830 at Torrs, Kirkcudbrightshire and is buried in Senwick kirkyard in Borgue.

References

External links

* 1824 first edition of ''

'' a
archive.org
* 1876 second edition of ''The Scottish Gallovidian Encyclopedia'' at archive.org * '' Three Years in Canada'' at archive.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Mactaggart, John 1791 births 1830 deaths Scottish writers Scottish engineers Burials in Dumfries and Galloway