MS 15
Papers of James John Haldane Burgess, 1862-1927, writer
1820
0.01
metres
Stirling University Library
Burgess, James John Haldane (1862-1927:
writer)
English
James John Haldane Burgess was born on 28 May
1862 in
Lerwick, the son of John Burgess. He was educated at the Anderson Institute and
won the Glasgow Bursary Competition in 1881. He worked as head teacher in
Bressay before embarking upon a degree in Divinity at the
University of Edinburgh in
1886. Despite
the onset of blindness, he attained an MA degree in
1889 after
sitting oral examinations. Due to his disagreement with certain church
doctrines, Haldane Burgess rejected a career as a church minister and returned
to Lerwick. Following his return to Shetland, Haldane became a freelance writer
and private tutor in Mathematics, Classics and modern languages. He knew most
European languages and was particularly knowledgeable in Icelandic, Norwegian
and Danish. He also learnt Esperanto. Using a typewriter specially designed for
use by the blind, he wrote numerous short stories, poems and an unpublished
novel. He played the violin and piano. He became a Marxist socialist in the
1890s
and described himself as a Socialist Democrat in 1907. In
1897 Haldane
composed the lyrics of the song sung at the annual Viking festival
Up-Helly-Aa. Haldane Burgess never married. Such
was the acclaim of J J Haldane Burgess that he was the first person to be
honoured by a public funeral in Lerwick which was held in the Parish
Church.
Correspondence from J J Haldane Burgess to W Walker: refers to his books
Shetland Sketches and Poems, and
Rasmie’s Smaa Murr 1919
The arrangement of this material reflects the original order in which it
was received
Unknown
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This material is original
Further details about the collection are held on
Stirling University Library
web-based catalogue.
Data about collection held on Stirling
University Library web-based catalogue.
Correspondence and papers, 1872-1927, Shetland Archives, ref D2 (NRA
22620 Haldane Burgess); Correspondence and papers: see Location register of
20th century English literary MSS 1988. For contact details of all repositories
with a GB code, search the indexes of the
National Register
of Archives, at the Historical Manuscripts Commission.
No known publications using this material
Note
Scotland is the location of all place names in the
administrative/biographical history element, unless otherwise stated.
Dates(s) of Descriptions
Fonds level description compiled by H M Kemp and Alan Borthwick,
Scottish Archive Network project, 10 May 2002.
University of Edinburgh
Burgess
James John Haldane
1862-1927
writer
Shetland (Scotland)
Creative writing
Foreign languages
Tutoring