Davidson, John

(1857-1909)

   Scottish poet, novelist and dramatist, he was born at Barrhead, Renfrewshire, the son of a clergyman. He taught in various schools in Scotland from 1872 to 1899, a job he loathed; then he moved to London, determined to earn a living solely by his writing. He wrote for the Speaker and the Glasgow Herald, but struggled financially, supporting his own family and a mentally ill brother whose passage he paid to Australia. He became increasingly dependent on his friends for support and in 1906 was granted Civil List pension and a year later moved to Penzance. He became mentally unbalanced, paranoid, and angry, and drowned himself the sea near Penzance, blaming his despair on debt and bad health. His body was found on the seashore months later; he was buried at sea. Some of his publications: Perfervid, 1890. In a Music Hall and Other Poems, 1891. Fleet Street Eclogues, 1893. Ballads and Songs, 1894. Fleet Street Eclogues, 1896. New Ballads, 1897. The Last Ballad1, 1899. Some of his poems: "A Ballad of Hell," "Imagination," "In Romney Marsh," "Song of a Train," "The Last Rose," "Thirty Bob a Week," "War Song."

   Sources: Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. Encyclopædia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite DVD, 2006. English Poetry: Author Search. Chadwyck-Healey Ltd., 1995 (http://www.lib.utexas.edu:8080/search/epoetry/author.html). Oldpoetry (www.oldpoetry.com). Poemhunter (www.poemhunter.com). 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 Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000.