Author: Anderson, William
Biography:
ANDERSON, William (1805-66: ODNB)
Journalist, poet, and prose writer. The son of James, an excise officer at Oban, and Elizabeth Williams, he born on 10 Dec. 1805 and was educated at Edinburgh. In 1820 he was briefly apprenticed to a Leith merchant before joining a solicitor’s office with the intention of studying law. However, he began earning his living writing for the press, and for the rest of his life alternated living in London and Scotland, developing extensive literary connections and serving as editor of various newspapers including at Aberdeen. On 20 Feb. 1834 at Aberdeen he married Barbara Dathie, a daughter of a customs house official, at Aberdeen. Poor health caused him to abandon journalism to focus on his prose writing in 1847. His most notable publication is the three volume The Scottish Nation (1859-73) on which he laboured for ten years. He died at London. (ODNB 18 Jan. 2018; MSM; Inverness Courier 12 Mar. 1834; findmypast.co.uk 30 Jan. 2025) SR