Riddell, Henry Scott

(1798-1870)

   Scottish poet born at Sorbie, Dumfriesshire, the son of a shepherd; his education was mainly carried out during the winter months. Following his father's death in 1817, and after two years of formal education, he went on to Edinburgh University, which included a year at St. Andrews University, after which he became a licentiate of the church of Scotland. In 1833 he became minister of Caerlanrig Chapel, Roxburghshire. Mental illness overtook him and he spent the years between 1841 and 1844 in an asylum at Dumfries, possibly the Crichton Royal. Afterward he devoted himself to literary work and archaeology. Between 1855 and 1857 he translated St. Matthew and the Psalms of David into lowland Scots. He died at Teviothead and was buried in Caerlanrig churchyard. In 1831 he published a col332 lection of sacred songs, Songs of the Ark; his Poems and Songs, and Miscellaneous Pieces appeared in 1847. The Poetical Works of Henry Scott Riddell, edited, with a memoir, by Dr. Brydon, appeared in 1871. Four of his poems: "Ours is the Land of Gallant Hearts," "Scotland Yet," "The Crook and Plaid," "When the Glen All is Still."

   Sources: Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. Modern Asylums in Scotland (http://www.dundeecity.gov.uk/liff/history5.html). The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The Home Book of Verse. Burton Egbert Stevenson, ed. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1953."