Soutar, George, 1864-1939, English scholar

George Soutar ( 1864-1939) was born in 1864, at East Leys of Dun, his father's farm. In 1879, the family moved to Montrose to let George attend the Academy. His main subjects at school were Classics and English, as they were at St. Andrews University, which he entered in 1882. He won the English Poetry Prize for a poem on "Immortality", and graduated in 1887, with First Class Honours in Classics. His interest in poetry extended to several verses in The University Magazine, some of them original, others translations from the Greek.

During the years he spent teaching in Banff, Ramsgate, Dundee, and as English Master in Elgin and Helensburgh, he was working on a thesis on "Nature in Greek Poetry", which gained him the degree of D. Litt. from St. Andrews University, in 1897. He was appointed External Examiner in English at St. Andrews, and, in 1907, was elected to the staff of University College, Dundee, first as Lecturer, afterward as Reader in English, until he retired in 1935. He continued as External Examiner in English for a second term. He had also represented the University for many years on the St. Andrews Provincial Committee for the Training of Teachers, of which he was Chairman at the time of his death. He will be best known for the research he put into compiling a Glossary of the Angus and Mearns dialect, and as a major contributor to the Scottish National Dictionary. He died in 1939.

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Notable publications:

Soutar published a volume of Selections from Pope, a Book of Ballads and two articles on Sir George Mackenzie in the Scots Magazine. His major works were the aforementioned thesis, covering the whole range of extant Greek Poetry, and a major contribution of Scots words and phrases from the Angus and Mearns, to the Scottish National Dictionary.

1839: Chairman, St. Andrews Provincial Committee for the Training of Teachers

1887: First Class Honours Degree in Classics, St Andrews University

1897: D. Litt. St. Andrews University

1898-1936: External Examiner in English, St. Andrews University

1907-1935: Lecturer and Reader in English, University College, Dundee

List of sources for the biographical information:

Shafe, Michael, University Education in Dundee 1881-1981: A Pictorial History, (Dundee, University of Dundee, 1982)

Authority record created according to theNational Council on ArchivesRules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names (NCA Rules)1997 and International Council on Archives: Ad Hoc Committee on Descriptive StandardsInternational Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families (ISAAR)CPF1995

Personal name authority record compiled for the NAHSTE project by John O'Brien, Glasgow University Archive Services, 22 August 2002