John Reid (1808–1841?) was a Scottish publisher, author and radical activist.

Life

Born at Paisley on 2 April 1808, he was the second son of John Reid, M.D., by Jean McGavin, sister to William McGavin of

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

. After education mostly by his father, he was apprenticed to a firm of booksellers in Glasgow; at the end of the apprenticeship he went to London, and entered the service of Messrs. Black & Young, publishers. In a few years Reid returned to Glasgow, where he started as bookseller and publisher on his own account. He became involved in social reform and politics, supported Polish exiles, and was one of those who wanted the

Earl of Durham Earl of Durham is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1833 for the Whig politician and colonial official John Lambton, 1st Baron Durham. Known as "Radical Jack", he played a leading role in the passing of the Gre ...

to lead a reconstructed radical party in parliament. His political associates included

Lord Dudley Stuart Lord Dudley Coutts Stuart (11 January 1803, London – 17 November 1854, Stockholm) was a British politician. He was the youngest son of John Stuart, 1st Marquess of Bute, and his second wife, Frances Coutts, daughter of the banker Thomas C ...

, Sir Daniel Macnee the painter, William Weir who became editor of the ''Daily News'', and

William Motherwell William Motherwell (13 October 1797, Glasgow – 1 November 1835, Glasgow) was a Scottish poet, antiquary and journalist. Life Motherwell was born at Glasgow, the son of Willan and Jane Motherwell. His father was an ironmonger. He was se ...

the poet. Reid was a traveller, and in 1838 he went to

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

on an extended visit. In 1840 he gave up his publishing business in Glasgow and went to

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

to edit an English journal and prepare a Chinese dictionary. He died there, in either 1841 or 1842.

Works

Reid is best known as the compiler of ''Bibliotheca Scoto-Celtica''. While studying

Gaelic Gaelic is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". As a noun it refers to the group of languages spoken by the Gaels, or to any one of the languages individually. Gaelic languages are spoken in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, and Ca ...

in 1825, a friend asked Reid to catalogue his Gaelic books for him. This led to the compilation of the ''Bibliotheca Scoto-Celtica'', which aimed to be a complete bibliography of books in Gaelic; it was seen in manuscript by

Sir John Sinclair, 1st Baronet Sir John Sinclair of Ulbster, 1st Baronet, (10 May 1754 – 21 December 1835), was a British politician, a writer on both finance and agriculture, and was one of the first people to use the word '' statistics'' in the English language, in ...

, in 1827. The Highland Society of London gave it an award in 1831, and it was published in Glasgow by Reid himself in 1832. Reid published in 1835 a sketch of the Earl of Durham's political career. He contributed to periodicals and published ''Illustrations of Social Depravity'', a series of booklets, Glasgow, 1834. He wrote a memoir for the ''Posthumous Works'' (1834) of William McGavin, and in 1840 published ''Turkey and the Turks, being the Present State of the Ottoman Empire''.

Family

Reid married, in 1836, Anne, daughter of Captain John McLaren, High Laws,

Berwick on Tweed Berwick-upon-Tweed (), sometimes known as Berwick-on-Tweed or simply Berwick, is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, and the northernmost town in England. The 2011 United Kingdom census reco ...

, with whom he had one daughter.

Notes

Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Reid, John 1808 births 1840s deaths Scottish publishers (people) Scottish writers People from Paisley, Renfrewshire 19th-century Scottish businesspeople