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Author: Pollok, Robert

Biography:

POLLOK, Robert (1798-1827: ODNB)

The author of the wildly popular The Course of Time (it went to multiple editions in both the UK and America) was born at North Moorhouse, Renfrewshire, the seventh of eight children of John Pollok, a farmer, and his wife Margaret Dickie. Before attending the parish school he was educated at home by his mother. In boyhood, he suffered some kind of accident while running a race and this was supposed to have contributed to his death; in fact, it was most likely an early symptom of tuberculosis. At sixteen he took up cabinet making on the recommendation of his brother-in-law but gave it up after making four chairs. The same year he was deeply affected by being present at the death of his sister after childbirth and he later wrote about the experience in The Course of Time.  In 1815 he and his older brother David—who wrote his biography—went to Fenwick school to prepare for entrance to the University of Glasgow. He had already begun writing both poetry and prose. He entered the university in 1817 (MA 1822). His family belonged to the Secession Church, and in 1822-27 he studied theology at the Divinity Hall of the United Secession Church and at the university. During this period, he wrote The Course of Time which was published by Blackwood, having been recommended by David Macbeth Moir and John Wilson (qq.v.). Pollok qualified as a probationer with the church and preached several times before increasing ill-health sent him to live with a physician in Slateford (near Edinburgh). In August 1827 he and one of his sisters set off for northern Italy for his health but he was detained first in London and then in Shirley Common (near Southampton) by illness. He died at Shirley Common and was buried in the churchyard at Millbrook. In addition to his poetry, he wrote three tales for youth: Helen of the Glen (1824), The Persecuted Family (1828), and Ralph Gemmell (1829). (ODNB 21 Aug. 2020; David Pollok, The Life of Robert Pollok [1843]) SR

 

Other Names:

  • R. Pollok
 

Books written (42):

Edinburgh/ London: William Blackwood/ T. Cadell, 1827
Boston/ New York: Crocker and Brewster/ J. Leavitt, 1828
2nd edn. Edinburgh: William Blackwood, 1828
3rd edn. Edinburgh/ London: William Blackwood/ T. Cadell, 1828
4th edn. Edinburgh/ London: William Blackwood/ T. Cadell, 1828
5th edn. Edinburgh/ London: William Blackwood/ T. Cadell, 1828
7th edn. Edinburgh/ London: William Blackwood/ T. Cadell, 1828.
Exeter [NH]: Leonard W. Kimball, 1828
2nd American stereotype edn. Exeter [NH]: Leonard W. Kimball, 1828
2nd American edn. from the 3rd London edn. New York: J.P. Haven, E. Bliss, White, Gallaher, and White, Collins and Hannay, Collins and Co., Wm. Burgess, Jr., Wm. B. Gilley, 1828
Philadelphia: A. Claxton, 1828
3rd American from the 3rd Edinburgh edn. Boston/ New York/ Philadelphia/ Baltimore: Crocker and Brewster/ Jonathan Leavitt/ John Grigg/ Cushing and Jewett, 1828
4th American edn. Amherst MA: J. S. and C. Adams, 1828
8th edn. Edinburgh/ London: William Blackwood/ T. Cadell, 1829
9th edn. Edinburgh/ London: William Blackwood/ T. Cadell, 1829
Philadelphia: J. J. Woodward, 1829
7th American edn. Boston/ Amherst [MA]/ New York: R. P. and C. Williams and Benjamin H. Ives/ J.S. and C. Adams/ John P. Haven, 1829
7th American edn. Boston/ Amherst [MA]/ New York: L. W. Kimball, and Carter and Hendee/J. S. and C. Adams/ J. P. Haven, 1830
Philadelphia/ Raleigh [NC]: L. A. Key/ Turner and Hughes, 1830
Watervliet NY: A. and C. A. Warren, 1830
12th American edn. New York: McElrath and Bangs, 1831
13th American edn. New York: McElrath and Bangs, 1831
3rd American edn. from the 3rd Edinburgh edn. Boston/ New York/ Philadelphia/ Baltimore: Crocker and Brewster/ Jonathan Leavitt/ John Grigg/ Cushing and Jewett, 1831
Improved edn. for the use of schools and academies Woodstock VT/ Boston: Nahum Haskell/ Benjamin B. Mussey, 1831
10th American edn. New York: McElrath and Bangs, 1831
11th edn. Edinburgh/ London: William Blackwood/ T. Cadell, 1832
15th American edn. New York: McElrath, Bangs, and Herbert, 1833
12th edn. Edinburgh/ London: William Blackwood/ T. Cadell, 1833
Philadelphia: John Grigg, 1833
Concord N.H: Eastman, Webster and Company, 1834
Improved edn. Woodstock VT/ Boston: Nahum Haskell/ Benjamin B. Mussey, 1834
Philadelphia: John Grigg, 1834
[a re-issue of the 1833 edition with a new extra title-page] New-York: C. Wells, 1835
15th American edn. New York: McElrath and Bangs, 1835
New York: Leavitt and Allen, [1835]