William Veitch LL.D. (1794–1885) was a Scottish classical scholar.

Life

He was born in

Spittal-on-Rule Spittal-on-Rule is a farm in the council area of Scottish Borders in Scotland. As the name suggests it is situated on the river Rule Water, and the Spittal-on-Rule bridge crosses the Rule. More specifically, it lies where Rule Water meets the Riv ...

Roxburghshire Roxburghshire or the County of Roxburgh ( gd, Siorrachd Rosbroig) is a historic county and registration county in the Southern Uplands of Scotland. It borders Dumfriesshire to the west, Selkirkshire and Midlothian to the north-west, and Berw ...

, his family being one of the three main farming families in the area. He attended school in

Jedburgh Jedburgh (; gd, Deadard; sco, Jeddart or ) is a town and former royal burgh in the Scottish Borders and the traditional county town of the historic county of Roxburghshire, the name of which was randomly chosen for Operation Jedburgh in su ...

then went to

Edinburgh University The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 1582 ...

to study divinity alongside

Edward Irving Edward Irving (4 August 17927 December 1834) was a Scottish clergyman, generally regarded as the main figure behind the foundation of the Catholic Apostolic Church. Early life Edward Irving was born at Annan, Annandale the second son of Ga ...

. He received a licence to preach and did so until the Disruption of 1843. However, his great love was in scholastic study. In 1851 he stood unsuccessfully for the Greek chair at

, losing to

John Stuart Blackie John Stuart Blackie FRSE (28 July 1809 – 2 March 1895) was a Scottish scholar and man of letters. Biography He was born in Glasgow, on Charlotte Street, the son of Kelso-born banker Alexander Blackie (d.1846) and Helen Stodart. He was ed ...

. In 1866 he received an honorary doctorate (LLD) from his alma mater, recognising his contributions to scholastic literature. He rented rooms in Edinburgh and had a holiday cottage in

Langton Langton may refer to: Places ;Canada *Langton, Ontario ;England *Church Langton, Leicestershire *East Langton, Leicestershire *Great Langton, North Yorkshire *Langton, Cumbria *Langton, County Durham *Langton, Lincolnshire *Langton, North Yorkshi ...

to the south. He died on 8 July 1885. He is buried in a southern section of

Dean Cemetery The Dean Cemetery is a historically important Victorian cemetery north of the Dean Village, west of Edinburgh city centre, in Scotland. It lies between Queensferry Road and the Water of Leith, bounded on its east side by Dean Path and on ...

in western Edinburgh.Scotsman newspaper: obituaries 10 July 1885 He never married and had no children.

Artistic recognition

His portrait by James Irvine is held by the

Scottish National Portrait Gallery 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 ...

Publications

*''Greek Verbs, Irregular and Defective'' (1848) *''Greek Lexicon'' *''Latin-English Dictionary'' (with Smith) *''

The Iliad The ''Iliad'' (; grc, Ἰλιάς, Iliás, ; "a poem about Ilium") is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the '' Ody ...

'' (1852) *Revision to Daniel Keyte Sandford's ''Extracts from Greek Authors''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Veitch, William 1794 births 1885 deaths People from the Scottish Borders 19th-century Scottish clergy Burials at the Dean Cemetery