William Forsyth (1818–1879), was a Scottish poet and journalist.
Life
Forsyth was son of Morris Forsyth and Jane Brands, and was born at
Turriff, Aberdeenshire
Turriff () is a town and civil parish in Aberdeenshire in Scotland. It lies on the River Deveron, about above sea level, and has a population of 5,708. In everyday speech it is often referred to by its Scots name ''Turra'', which is derived fr ...
, 24 October 1818. He was educated at
Fordyce Academy
Fordyce Academy, known until the mid-19th century as Fordyce School, and also sometimes called Smith's Academy, was a famous grammar school in the village of Fordyce, Banffshire, Scotland, founded about 1592, refounded in 1790, and closed in 19 ...
and the universities of
Aberdeen
Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...
and
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
. For some years he studied medicine, becoming assistant to a country doctor, and twice acting as surgeon to a
Greenland
Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...
whaler, but he never took a medical degree, and ultimately abandoned medicine for literature. His first engagement was as sub-editor of the ''
Inverness Courier
The Inverness Courier is a local, bi-weekly newspaper, published each Tuesday and Friday in Inverness, Highland, Scotland. It reports on issues in Inverness and the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. It is the longest, continually running local n ...
'' (1842) under
Robert Carruthers
Robert Carruthers (1799–1878) was a Scottish journalist and miscellaneous writer.
He was born in Dumfriesshire and was for a time a teacher in Huntingdon. He wrote a ''History of Huntingdon'' in 1824. In 1828 he became editor of the ''Inverne ...
, whom he assisted in the preparation of ''
Chambers's Cyclopædia of English Literature''. In 1843 he became sub-editor of the ''
Aberdeen Herald
Aberdeen () is a city in Grays Harbor County, Washington, United States. The population was 17,013 at the 2020 census. The city is the economic center of Grays Harbor County, bordering the cities of Hoquiam and Cosmopolis. Aberdeen is occasi ...
'', then conducted by Mr. Adam, and he contributed in prose and verse for several years. In 1848 he joined the staff of the ''
Aberdeen Journal'', and eventually was appointed editor, a post which he held for about thirty years.
In Aberdeen, at Bonnymuir, Maryville, Friendville, Gordondale, and Richmondhill, his successive homes, he spent more than thirty years. During the last ten years of his life Forsyth suffered from
cancer of the mouth
Oral cancer, also known as mouth cancer, is cancer of the lining of the lips, mouth, or upper throat. In the mouth, it most commonly starts as a painless white patch, that thickens, develops red patches, an ulcer, and continues to grow. When on ...
. After a long illness, he died on 21 June 1879. He was buried in the cemetery of
Allenvale on the Dee. Forsyth married in 1854 Miss Eliza Fyfe, who survived him.
Activism
In Aberdeen, the establishment of the
Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor
The Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor (AICP) was a charitable organization in New York City, established in 1843 and incorporated in 1848 with the aim of helping the deserving poor and providing for their moral uplift.Coble, Alan ...
was mainly due to him, and he not only sat on the managing committee, but was for six years secretary. He read a paper to the
Social Science Congress in 1877, on 'The Province and Work of Voluntary Charitable Agencies in the Management of the Poor.' Forsyth was elected a member of the first Aberdeen school board, and served as convener of a committee for questions affecting the grammar school and town council. Forsyth twas chosen captain of the citizens' battery. This appointment he held for eighteen years, retiring with the rank of major. Some of his martial songs obtained a wide popularity. He also took much interest in everything connected with the service, and made suggestions to the war office as to practical gunnery and the use of armed railway carriages in warfare.
Works
Forsyth's principal literary works were 'The Martyrdom of Kelavane' (1861)—based on the story of the 17th-century
Georgian
Georgian may refer to:
Common meanings
* Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country)
** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group
** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians
**Georgian scripts, three scrip ...
queen
Ketevan Ketevan ( ka, ქეთევანი) is a Georgian feminine given name. It is sometimes used as a Georgian form of Katherine but, in terms of their etymology, the two names aren't related as Katherine has origins in the Greek language while Ketev ...
—and 'Idylls and Lyrics' (1872). The latter volume contains 'The Old Kirk Bell,’ and several other pieces published for the first time, but it was mainly made up of reprints from magazines. The most finished of these is 'The River,’ which came out in the ''
Cornhill Magazine
''The Cornhill Magazine'' (1860–1975) was a monthly Victorian magazine and literary journal named after the street address of the founding publisher Smith, Elder & Co. at 65 Cornhill in London.Laurel Brake and Marysa Demoor, ''Dictiona ...
'' in
William Makepeace Thackeray
William Makepeace Thackeray (; 18 July 1811 – 24 December 1863) was a British novelist, author and illustrator. He is known for his satirical works, particularly his 1848 novel ''Vanity Fair'', a panoramic portrait of British society, and t ...
's time. 'The Piobrach o' Kinreen,’ an old piper's lament for the clearance of
Glentannar, first appeared in ''
Punch
Punch commonly refers to:
* Punch (combat), a strike made using the hand closed into a fist
* Punch (drink), a wide assortment of drinks, non-alcoholic or alcoholic, generally containing fruit or fruit juice
Punch may also refer to:
Places
* Pun ...
''
Forsyth was in politics a
liberal-conservative
Liberal conservatism is a political ideology combining conservative policies with liberal stances, especially on economic issues but also on social and ethical matters, representing a brand of political conservatism strongly influenced by libe ...
. During 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 was almost alone among Scottish journalists in advocating the cause of the Union. In the controversy of
Charles Kingsley v.
John Henry Newman
John Henry Newman (21 February 1801 – 11 August 1890) was an English theologian, academic, intellectual, philosopher, polymath, historian, writer, scholar and poet, first as an Anglican ministry, Anglican priest and later as a Catholi ...
he wrote in support of the former, and received a letter of thanks from Kingsley. In church matters
Charles Wordsworth
Charles Wordsworth (22 August 1806 – 5 December 1892) was Bishop of St Andrews, Dunkeld and Dunblane in Scotland. He was a classical scholar, and taught at public schools in England and Scotland. He was a rower, cricketer and athlete and he ...
, Bishop of St. Andrews and
Alexander Ewing, bishop of Argyle, corresponded with him privately. Forsyth also wrote two pamphlets on Scottish church questions, entitled 'A Letter on Lay Patronage in the Church of Scotland' (1867) and 'The Day of Open Questions' (1868). In the first of these he indicated the lines on which reform of the church might be carried out, ahead of the
Act for the Abolition of Church Patronage (1874).
After his death 'Selections' from his unpublished writings, with a 'Memoir,’ were edited by his friend Alexander Walker, Aberdeen. This volume reproduces 'The Midnicht Meetin',’ a satire on the promoters of the union of the Aberdeen and Marischal colleges, originally printed for private circulation.
Selected publications
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References
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;Attribution
{{DEFAULTSORT:Forsyth, William
1818 births
1879 deaths
19th-century Scottish people
19th-century British journalists
British male journalists
19th-century Scottish poets
Scottish journalists
Scottish male poets
People from Banffshire
Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
Alumni of the University of Aberdeen
People educated at Fordyce Academy
Writers from Aberdeen
19th-century British male writers
19th-century British writers