Talk:Alexander Smith (poet)
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I have my copy of the 1907 Routledge and Sons reprint of Dreamthorp in front of me as I write. The first essay, also called Dreamthorp, was one of my favourite pieces of writing. I had only read it before as an isolated essay, and it was a pleasant surprise to find the whole book one day in a second-hand bookshop, worth far more to me than the £2 I paid the bookseller.
Today was another surprise when I saw that the whole book Dreamthorp is now available online from Project Gutenberg. I have added a link to it from the article. Perhaps this is the fruits of a request I made years ago. It evokes the beautiful quiet solitude of living in the deep countryside, which nowadays you have to be lucky or wealthy to experience at first-hand yourself. On re-reading it, it does seem to reflect the inevitable Victorian obsession with Death, and Smith himself died young by modern standards.
[edit] Alexander Smith: parents' forenames
According to the Registry Office records of Alexander Smith's marriage (Sleat, 1857) and death (Edinburgh, 1867), Alexander's parents were John and Christina (Murray), not Peter and Helen as stated in Brisbane's biography (and previously in the Wikipedia article and many similar around the web). There can be little doubt that these records are of the correct Alexander Smith -- Secretary to the University of Edinburgh, son of pattern designer, married to Flora McDonald, died Gesto Villa, etc. I have changed these names on the main page.
Brisbane also says that Smith's mother was "a native of the Highlands." I believe that he is wrong here, too, and that she was born in Paisley in 1804, although I am not sure enough to change the text of the main article. Brisbane was certainly aware that Alexander's parents were alive when he wrote the biography; one wonders whether he troubled to consult them.
Wyresider (talk) 15:31, 4 January 2008 (UTC)
Further to the above, combining the evidence from Christina's death record, the census records and the OPR birth records, I am now quite satisfied that Christina WAS born in Paisley and have amended the article to reflect this. I have also added a caveat to the Brisbane reference.
Wyresider (talk) 23:25, 17 April 2008 (UTC)
