Author: Peterkin, Alexander
Biography:
PETERKIN, Alexander (1781-1846: ODNB)
His father, William Peterkin (d 1793), was the minister of the chapel of ease at Macduff, Banffshire, where Peterkin was born on 26 Mar. 1781; his mother was Isabel (Irvine) Peterkin. He was baptised on 8 Apr. The family moved to Ecclesmachan, Linlithgowshire, where he attended school before studying law at Edinburgh University. On 20 Dec. 1807 he married Charlotte Giles; they had seven children (the eldest son, Alexander, became a newspaper editor). He qualified as a solicitor of the supreme courts (SSC), worked in Peterhead, and was made sheriff-substitute of Orkney in 1814. His antiquarian research led to two books about Orkney--Rentals of the Ancient Earldom and Bishoprick of Orkney (1820) and Notes on Orkney and Zetland (1822)—but anger over his depiction of present conditions in Orkney led to a protracted legal battle and his dismissal as sheriff-substitute in 1823. He moved, probably first to Roxburghshire and then Edinburgh; edited the Kelso Chronicle (1833-35); and published three well-regarded books on Scottish church history. The 1841 census shows the family living in Edinburgh where Peterkin died, at home, on 9 Nov. 1846. He and his wife, who died in 1867, were buried in Ecclesmachan churchyard where there is a memorial. His other works include his edition with biographical sketch of Robert Fergusson's Works (1807), and A Review of the Life and Writings of Robert Burns, and of Various Criticisms on his Character (1814: this is a critique of R. H. Cromek’s edition of Burns and was republished in 1815 with James Currie’s edition). (ODNB 28 May 2020; ancestry.co.uk 28 May 2020, 23 Dec. 2024) SR
Other Names:
- A. Peterkin