Sir Walter Scott
1771-1832
Loch Lomond and the Trossachs
National Park
Famous for:
Romantic poet and novelist whose best-known works are Lady Of The Lake and Rob Roy.
More info:
Walter Scott digital archive: Edinburgh University
The steamship, the Sir Walter Scott, takes in the views of Loch Katrine that inspired Scott to write one of his most famous works, The Lady Of The Lake
Early life
Born in Edinburgh, Scott was the fourth surviving child of Robert Scott and Anne Rutherford. He contracted polio aged two and spent his early years recuperating at his grandparents’ farm, Sandyknowe, 30 miles south east of Edinburgh.
There his Aunt Jenny would read to him on days when he was too ill to venture outside and taught him how to read. He also spent a year with her in Bath – his family hoped the waters would cure his leg left lame by polio, but it was to remain this way for the rest of his life.
Legal eagle
His formal schooling began in Edinburgh at the private High School of Edinburgh (now the Royal High School). He also briefly attended Kelso Grammar School before going to Edinburgh University to study law.
Scott began working life as a lawyer (advocate) on the Jedburgh circuit and by 1979 he’d been appointed sheriff-depute of Selkirk. He married Margaret Charlotte Charpentier in 1979 with whom he had four children. He began to dabble in writing at the age of 25, first translating works from German then moving on to writing poetry, editing and reviewing.
Poem boosts tourism
Scott wrote The Lady Of The Lake while holidaying in the Trossachs along the shores of Loch Katrine. It became an international hit selling over 25,000 copies in its first year.
It vividly describes the history and landscape the area and led to an influx of tourists keen to see the area they’d read about– making the area one of the world’s first tourist resorts.
The poem also helped establish the notion of the romantic Highlands.
Taste of literary success
Scott founded a publishing business with his friend, James Ballantyne, after which his poetry brought him fame. He had one of his first successes with The Lay Of The Last Minstrel published in 1805 and over the next decade published a number of poems including:.
- The Lady Of The Lake (1810)
- Waverley (1814)
- Rob Roy (1817)
- Ivanhoe (1819)
The Lady Of The Lake - musical inspiration
As well as inspiring a tourism boom, the poem also inspired musicians:
- The poem was used as the basis for a Rossini opera
- Schubert composed music to the verses in Canto 1 of the poem
- James Sanderson composed Hail To The Chief (still used to announce the arrival of US presidents today) from the words of the poem
Did you know?
Aged 15 Robert Scott met Robert Burns – the only time the literary pair’s paths ever crossed.
