John Robin Jenkins (11 September 1912 – 24 February 2005) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

writer of thirty published novels, the most celebrated being ''

The Cone Gatherers ''The Cone Gatherers'' (also ''The Cone-Gatherers'') is a novel by the Scottish writer Robin Jenkins, first published in 1955. The background to the novel comes from Jenkins' own wartime experience as a conscientious objector doing forestry wo ...

''. He also published two collections of short stories.

Career

Robin Jenkins was born in Flemington near

Cambuslang Cambuslang ( sco, Cammuslang, from gd, Camas Lang) is a town on the south-eastern outskirts of Greater Glasgow, Scotland. With approximately 30,000 residents, it is the 27th largest town in Scotland by population, although, never having had a ...

in 1912; his father died when John was only seven years old and he and his three siblings were brought up by his mother in straitened circumstances. However, he won a bursary to attend the former Hamilton Academy then a famous fee-paying school. The theme of escaping circumstances through education at such a school was to form the basis of Jenkins's later novel ''Happy for the Child'' (1953) Winning a scholarship, he subsequently studied Literature at the University of Glasgow, graduating in 1936. During the Second World War, he registered as a

conscientious objector A conscientious objector (often shortened to conchie) is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, or religion. The term has also been extended to object ...

and was sent to work in forestry in Argyll (forestry work would re-appear in ''The Cone Gatherers''). Upon release of his first novel, ''So Gaily Sings the Lark'' (also derived from his conscientious objector experience) in 1950, he adopted the

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

'Robin Jenkins'. In the early years of his writing career, Jenkins worked as an English and History teacher. In the 1950s, he taught at Riverside Senior Secondary in Glasgow's East End and later moved with his family to Dunoon where he taught at the prestigious Dunoon Grammar School. He also spent four formative years at the Gaya School in Sabah, Borneo, living there with his wife May and their children. Before that, he had held British Council teaching posts in both Kabul and Barcelona. His best-known novel, ''

'', is based upon his forestry work as a conscientious objector and is often studied in Scottish schools. While ''The Cone Gatherers'' has been criticised as being devoid of any real sense of place, other novels such as ''The Thistle and the Grail'', his 1954 football story, paint vivid pictures of more accessible settings. His writing typically touches on many themes, including morality, the struggle between good and evil, war, class and social justice. ''Just Duffy'' is another of his novels which focuses on such themes, in a style which has been compared to that of the earlier Scottish writer, James Hogg. Jenkins was awarded the

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

in 1999 and in 2003 received the Andrew Fletcher of Saltoun prize from the Saltire Society for his lifetime achievement. His portrait, by Jennifer McRae, is in the collection of the

National Portrait Gallery of Scotland The Scottish National Portrait Gallery is an art museum on Queen Street, Edinburgh. The gallery holds the national collections of portraits, all of which are of, but not necessarily by, Scots. It also holds the Scottish National Photography Co ...

. The Robin Jenkins Literary Award has been established in his name.The Robin Jenkins Literary Award
Retrieved 20 October 2010 Robin Jenkins died in 2005, aged 92; his novel ''The Pearl-fishers'' was published posthumously in 2007.

Bibliography

Books

* ''So Gaily Sings the Lark'' (1950) * ''Happy for the Child'' (1953) * ''The Thistle and the Grail'' (1954) * ''

'' (1955) * ''Guests of War'' (1956) * ''The Missionaries'' (1957) * ''The Changeling'' (1958) * ''Love Is a Fervent Fire'' (1959) * ''Some Kind of Grace'' (1960) * ''Dust on the Paw'' (1961) * ''The Tiger of Gold'' (1962) * ''A Love of Innocence'' (1963) * ''The Sardana Dancers'' (1964) * ''A Very Scotch Affair'' (1968) * ''Holy Tree'' (1969) * ''The Expatriates'' (1971) * ''A Toast to the Lord'' (1972) * ''Far Cry from Bowmore and Other Stories'' (1973) (short story collection) * ''A Figure of Fun'' (1974) * ''A Would-be Saint'' (1978) * ''Fergus Lamont'' (1979) * ''The Awakening of George Darroch'' (1985) * ''Just Duffy'' (1988) * ''Poverty Castle'' (1991) * ''Willie Hogg'' (1993) * ''Leila'' (1995) * ''Lunderston Tales'' (1996) (short story collection) * ''Matthew and Sheila'' (1998) * ''Poor Angus'' (2000) * ''Childish Things'' (2001) * ''Lady Magdalen'' (2003) * ''The Pearl-fishers'' (†, 2007)

Articles

* ''Speaking as a Scot'' (1982), in Lindsay, Maurice (ed.), ''The Scottish Review: Arts and Environment'' 27, August 1982, pp. 18 & 19,

Reviews

* Magnusson, Magnus (1961), review of ''Dust on the Paw'', in Gordon, Giles and Scott-Moncrieff, Michael (eds.). ''New Saltire'' 2: Autumn 1961, The Saltire Society, Edinburgh, pp. 66 & 67 * Craig, David (1980), review of ''Fergus Lamont'', in '' Cencrastus'' No. 2, Spring 1980, pp. 39 – 41, * Review of ''The Conegatherers'', in '' Cencrastus'' No. 4, Winter 1980-81, p. 47,

References

External links

BBC page on Robin Jenkins

* Iain Crichton Smith's ' Scotnote' on 'The Cone Gatherers' https://web.archive.org/web/20100712113920/http://asls.org.uk/Scotnotes
The Robin Jenkins Award web site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jenkins, Robin 1912 births 2005 deaths People educated at Hamilton Academy People from Cambuslang Officers of the Order of the British Empire British conscientious objectors Scottish conscientious objectors 20th-century Scottish novelists