William Croft Dickinson used the medium of fiction to portray happenings he felt history could not explain
(Painting: Apparition by Eugeniu Volnescu)
Scottish historical writers read by the public in the Victorian period included Thomas Carlyle (the sage of Chelsea) and Charles Rogers (the controversial founder of the Royal Historical Society); Robert Chambers (one of the most successful British publishers of the 19th century) and Andrew Lang (the most prolific Scottish writer of the fin de siècle). In their histories they evinced a keen interest in Scottish literature, and in their literary criticism and philosophical works they saw history as more than simply context. Blending history with fiction and poetry, they wrote across genres (essay, treatise, short story, poetry, diary, journalism), and took an active interest in sharing current scholarship with the public. In part, this approach emerged from necessity – none boasted a university position, and they relied on their publications for a living – but its consequences were far more wide ranging. To date, we have thought of the output of the Scottish History Society (SHS) from 1886 as rather running counter to this dynamic in Scottish historical studies: not so. Past presidents and council members were crucial contributors to its perpetuation. SHS office holders and presidents played an important role in publishing, the founding of libraries, public history, and broadcasting, and some even anticipated the interests of the new president, novelist James Robertson, in their forays into fiction.
SHS secretary David Masson