Author: Marjoribanks, John
Biography:
Marjoribanks, John (1758-96: ODNB)
Probably born in Berwickshire, he was the only son of Major John Marjoribanks of Crumrigg, Berwickshire, and his wife Marjorie (Gordon). He was educated at Kelso Grammar School and later probably attended lectures at the University of Edinburgh although he did not graduate. He began writing verses while at university. His father died in 1781 from wounds sustained in the Battle of Eutaw Springs in the American Revolutionary War. In about 1782 he moved to London where he joined the army, eventually serving in his father’s regiment, the 19th Foot. By 1783 he was back in Edinburgh and Walter Scott recorded in his copy of Trifles in Verse that he knew of him in Kelso working as a recruiting officer and publishing love poems in the local newspaper. Marjoribanks had inherited Crumrigg from his father but it was debt-laden and he sold it in 1784, by which time he was with his regiment in Jamaica. His loathing for the slave system dates from this time and led to his Slavery which he wrote in Jamaica in 1786 although it was not published until 1792 (H. E. Horner’s Fragments [1792] is a rebuttal of Marjoribanks arguments). He returned to Scotland in 1787 and resigned his commission in 1795. The illness and bitterness that clouded his last years is recorded in the final, posthumous, volume of Trifles. He was buried in Greyfriars churchyard. (ODNB 14 Jan 2020)
Other Names:
- Captain John Marjoribanks
- Captain Marjoribanks