Author: Tytler, Alexander Fraser
Biography:
TYTLER, Alexander Fraser (1747-1813: ODNB)
He was baptised Alexander Tytler and added Fraser only after his marriage. Born at Edinburgh, he was one of eight children of Anne (Craig) and William Tytler q.v., a lawyer and historian. (In 1783 William edited Poetical Remains of James the First, included in the database because it contains work not previously published.) He was educated at Edinburgh High School, James Elphinstone’s school in Kensington, and Edinburgh University where he read law and came to know Henry Home, Lord Kames, and other prominent Edinburgh men. He was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates and called to the Scottish bar in 1770. A year later, his first publication, an edition of Phineas Fletcher’s Piscatory Eclogues, was issued. He followed this with various law publications and contributions to The Mirror. In 1776 he married Anne Fraser, heir to the estates of Balnain and Aldourie. They had five children including Patrick Fraser Tytler (q.v.); their daughter, Ann, wrote the popular “Leila” series of books for children. In 1780 he and John Pringle were jointly appointed to the chair of universal history at Edinburgh University. This position was the basis for his 1782 Plan and Outline of a Course of Lectures in Universal History. In 1786 he was made professor of civil history (in this capacity he taught Walter Scott, q.v.). Tytler was also interested in translation and his Essay on the Principles of Translation (1791) went to several editions. He was a prolific writer whose works included biographies, pamphlets, and, in 1792, a translation of Schiller’s Die Räuber. With his father’s death in 1792 he inherited the estate of Woodhouselee which he set about enlarging. He had been appointed judge advocate in 1790; in 1802 he was named to the bench of the court of session as Lord Woodhouselee and, in 1811, he joined the justiciary bench. He suffered serious illness in 1795 but recovered under the care of Dr James Gregory. In 1812 he was again ill but this time it was clear that nothing could be done and he died at Woodhouselee, survived by his wife. He was buried in Greyfriars churchyard. (ODNB 30 Nov. 2020) SR
Other Names:
- A. F. Tytler