Biography
Richard Gall (1776-1801), probably the son of George Gall, a notary at Dunbar, and his wife Mary Burn(s), was educated at Haddington and initially apprenticed as a carpenter and builder. However, he soon moved to Edinburgh to train asa printer under David Ramsay of the Edinburgh Evening Courant, later acting as Ramsay’s travelling agent. During this period, he began writing Scots verse influenced by Robert Burns, with whom he may have corresponded, and formed literary connections with Thomas Campbell, Hector MacNeill, Andrew Shirrefs, and others. His closest associate was Alexander Murray (1775-1813), later Professor of Oriental Languages at the University of Edinburgh. Gall died aged twenty-five from sepsis, before substantial publication of his work.
Found in 2 Collections and/or Records:
Fonds
Identifier: Coll-2908
Scope and Contents
This is an archive of late eighteenth-century Scots poetry composed of over 40 poems in the hand of Scottish poet Richard Gall (1776-1801), together with 36 poems sent to Gall by writers in his circle, and materials relating to the posthumous publication of Gall's Poems and Songs in 1819.1. Forty-seven poems by Gall (of which some unpublished), nearly all with corrections and variant readings, some present in several different copies, two in apparently...
Dates:
c 1790-1819
Fonds
Identifier: Coll-2935
Scope and Contents
Commonplace book of Richard Gall, made up of clippings with occasional manuscript notes. Initial entries focus on the recent death of Robert Burns (1759-1796), but branch out into examples of Burns' work, and poems by other authors that centre generally on Scottish life and the city of Edinburgh.Identifiable authors and subjects of their work:
E. [Ellen] Hyslop (1766-1852)William Roscoe (1753-1831)Edward Rushton (1756-1814)Eaglesfield...
Dates:
1649-1799
