Author: Stoddart, Thomas Tod
Biography:
STODDART, Thomas Tod (1810-1880: ODNB)
Born at Argyle Square, Edinburgh, he was the son of Frances (Sprot) and Pringle Stoddart, an officer in the Royal Navy. He was educated at a Moravian school near Manchester, Edinburgh High School, and the University of Edinburgh (where he studied philosophy and law). At sixteen, he earned a prize in Professor John Wilson’s (q.v.) class for a poem. He was called to the bar in 1833 but, disliking the work, gave it up to devote himself to his two interests—literature and, especially, angling. He moved to Kelso and, in 1836, married Elizabeth McGregor. They had three children. He contributed poetry to the Edinburgh Literary Journal. His other works include several on angling—Art of Angling (1835), Angling Reminiscences (1839), and Angler’s Companion to the Rivers and Lakes of Scotland (1847). He also wrote a novel (Abel Massinger, 1847) and two other books of verse—Songs and Poems in 1846 and Songs of the Seasons and Other Poems in 1873 (with a memoir). He died at Kelso and was buried in the cemetery there. (ODNB 6 Oct. 2020; James Grant Wilson, Poets and Poetry of Scotland [1876] 2; ancestry.co.uk 6 Oct. 2020) SR
Other Names:
- Thomas T. Stoddart