Colvin, Ian Duncan

(1877-1938)

   Journalist, biographer, and poet, he was born at Inverness, son of a Free Church minister. Educated at Crieff Academy and Inverness College, he studied rhetoric and English literature at Edinburgh University, where he won the gold medal for history and literature. He worked for the Allahabad Pioneer in London and in India, and for the Cape Times. In 1909 he became lead writer of the Morning Post in London, writing leading articles for the next twentyeight years. He wrote political verse and tales under the pseudonym "Rip van Winkle" and was a fierce critic of whatever government was in power. He denounced the 1921 Irish "treaty," was hostile toward the Indian Round Table Conference of 1931, and he supported General Franco during he Spanish Civil War. Some of his publications: South and East Africa, 1910. The Cape of Adventure, 1912. The Germans in England 1066-1598, 1915. The Unseen Hand in English History, 1817. The Safety of the Nation, 1919. The Life of General Dyer, 1929. The Life of Lord Carson, Vol. II, 1934. The Life of Lord Carson, Vol. III, 1936. Two of his poems: "The Flying Dutchman," "Tristan da Cunha."

   Sources: Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition, 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. 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 Penguin Book of Southern African Verse. Stephen Gray, ed. Penguin Books, 1989.