Author: Douglas, Neil
Biography:
DOUGLAS, Neil (1750-1823: ODNB)
pseudonym: Britannicus
Minister, reformist. No details of his birth or baptism have been located but he was educated at the University of Glasgow and became minister of the Relief Church, Cupar, Fife. In 1793 he moved to the church in Dundee and, having studied Gaelic, undertook a hazardous journey into the Highlands which he described in his Journal of a Mission to the Highlands (1797). Douglas married Mary Anne Isabella Millar on 26 Aug. 1787; they had one son. She died at Dundee on 2 Feb. 1799. Douglas was a reformer far in advance of his time, campaigning against social ills including slavery. In 1817 his reformist writings, including his comparison of George III to Nebuchadnezzar and the House of Commons to a den of thieves, led to a charge of sedition and imprisonment but he was unanimously acquitted. He died at Glasgow on 9 Jan. 1823 and was buried in the Calton cemetery on 14 Jan. James Burgh (1714-1775), whose “Britain’s Remembrancer” is included in Monitory Address to Great Britain, was a committed anti-Jacobite. (ODNB as Niel Douglas 26 Oct 2018; findmypast.co.uk 6 Nov. 2025; Scots Magazine Jan. 1793; Aberdeen Journal 18 Feb. 1799) SR
Other Names:
- N. Douglas