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Author: Tytler, H. W.

Biography:

TYTLER, Henry William (1752/3-1808: ODNB)

He was born at Fern, Forfarshire, to Janet (Robertson) and the Rev. George Tytler, of the presbytery of Brechin. James Tytler (q.v.) was his older brother. Little is known about his education but Marischal College conferred on him the degree of Doctor of Medicine in January 1790 when he was working as a surgeon in Brechin.  In 1776, he married Christian Gillies, daughter of a physician, at Brechin. They had two sons and a daughter. In 1797-1800 he is recorded as living in London. He moved to India for a time but he died at Edinburgh, predeceasing his wife. BAM identifies him as the first Scotsman to translate into English the works of any Greek poet, saying that he did so “under a cloud of mental trouble.” His Miscellanies and his translation of Silius Italicus’s Punics (which in 1806 he had attempted to publish by subscription) were issued at Calcutta in 1828 and may have been edited by his son, John. (ODNB 1 Dec. 2020; BAM; Scots Magazine 1 Jan. 1790; ancestry.co.uk 1 Dec. 2020)

 

Other Names:

  • H. W. Tytler
 

Books written (2):

London/ Edinburgh: J. Hatchard and J. Asperne/ Bell and Bradfute, 1803
Calcutta: Printed by V. Holcroft at the Asiatic Press, 1828