Robert Somers (1822–1891) was a Scottish journalist and author.

Life

The son of Robert Somers and his wife, Jane Gordon Gibson, he was born at

Newton Stewart Newton Stewart ( Gd: ''Baile Ùr nan Stiùbhartach'') is a former burgh town in the historical county of Wigtownshire in Dumfries and Galloway, southwest Scotland. The town is on the River Cree with most of the town to the west of the river, and ...

Wigtownshire Wigtownshire or the County of Wigtown (, ) is one of the historic counties of Scotland, covering an area in the south-west of the country. Until 1975, Wigtownshire was an administrative county used for local government. Since 1975 the area has f ...

, on 14 September 1822, of English extraction on his father's side and Scottish on his mother's. In early life he was known as a lecturer on social and political questions. In 1844 Somers published a pamphlet ''Scottish Poor Laws'', containing a criticism of the Poor Law Amendment Act then passing through parliament. After its publication he became editor of the '' Scottish Herald'', a weekly newspaper then being started in Edinburgh. It was shortly managed with ''The Witness'' edited by

Hugh Miller Hugh Miller (10 October 1802 – 23/24 December 1856) was a self-taught Scottish geologist and writer, folklorist and an evangelical Christian. Life and work Miller was born in Cromarty, the first of three children of Harriet Wright (''b ...

, whose colleague and assistant Somers became. Somers went to Glasgow in 1847, to join the staff of the ''North British Daily Mail''; in the autumn of that year he was sent to the Highlands by the paper, to inquire into the distress in north-west Scotland after the failure of the potato crop in 1846. From 1849 to 1859 he was editor at Glasgow of the ''North British Daily Mail'' and, then for the next 11 years, of the ''Morning Journal''. In 1870–1 Somers travelled for six months in the USA, investigating the effect on the economic condition of the South of the political changes introduced by the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

. He died in London on 7 July 1891, after several years of impaired health.

Works

Somers was known for ''The Southern States Since the War. 1870-1'' (London and New York, 1871). He took the view that the early

Reconstruction Era The Reconstruction era was a period in American history following the American Civil War (1861–1865) and lasting until approximately the Compromise of 1877. During Reconstruction, attempts were made to rebuild the country after the bloo ...

in the South was a time of African-American political power. He became a recognised authority on monetary and commercial questions, published pamphlets dealing with banking, education, and labour issues, and contributed articles in these areas to the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' ninth edition. He also wrote: *''Letters from the Highlands'' (London, 1848). *''Sheriff Court Reform, or Cheap and Speedy Justice'', Edinburgh, 1853. *''Results of an Inquiry into the State of Education in Glasgow'', London and Glasgow, 1857. *''The Secular Theory of Education examined'', Edinburgh, 1872. *''The Education (Scotland) Act of 1872, with notes'', London, 1873, *''Scotch Banks and their System of Issue'', London, 1873. *''The Martyr of Glencree'', historical romance, London, 1878.

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;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Somers, Robert 1822 births 1891 deaths Scottish journalists Scottish newspaper editors