William Alexander’s Followers (1)

William Alexander

Born

in Chapel of Garioch, Aberdeenshire, Scotland

June 12, 1826

Died

February 19, 1894

Genre

Fiction, Local History, Land Reform

Influences

Walter Scott, Charles Dickens, William McCombie, James Anderson, Thoma ...more

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William Alexander was born in the Garioch, near the foot of Benachie. He found his feet as a writer through the Mutual Instruction movement which flourished in North-East Scotland at this time under the direction of William McCombie of Cairnballoch, farmer, philosopher, economist and newspaper editor, who offered Alexander a job in the autumn of 1852. He eventually succeeded McCombie as editor of the Aberdeen Free Press, and went on to become one of the leading professional journalists in Victorian Scotland. Politically, he was a radical, supporting land reform and the abolition of hereditary privileges.

Alexander was a prolific novelist of wide thematic range and considerable variety of style, from austere realism at one end of the scale, t ...more

Combine Editions
William Alexander’s books

Average rating: 3.36 · 11 ratings · 6 reviews · 12 distinct works

	Johnny Gibb of Gushetneuk in the Parish of Pyketillim, with Glimpses of the Parish Politics about AD 1843 3.50 avg rating — 4 ratings — published 1870 — 44 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Laird of Drammochdyle and his Contemporaries: or Random Sketches Done in Outline with a Burnt Stick by William Alexander, William Donaldson (Introduction) 2.67 avg rating — 3 ratings — published 1865 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Rural life in Victorian Aberdeenshire by William Alexander, Ian R. Carter (Editor) 3.50 avg rating — 2 ratings — published 1989 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	My Uncle the Baillie really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 1877 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Grampian Hairst: An Anthology of Northeast Prose by William Donaldson (Editor), Douglas Young (Editor), William Alexander (Contributor) really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 1981 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Making of Aberdeenshire: A Paper read before the Aberdeen Philosophical Society, 20th March, 1888 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 1888 — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Rinderpest in Aberdeenshire: the outbreak of 1865 and how it was stamped out 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 1882 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Notes and Sketches Illustrative of Northern Rural Life in the Eighteenth Century 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 1877 — 32 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Sketches of Life Among My Ain Folk 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 1875 — 31 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Twenty-Five Years: A Personal Retrospect 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 1878	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Quotes by William Alexander (?)

“To rouse the countra frae the caul' morality o' a deid moderation.”
― William Alexander, Johnny Gibb of Gushetneuk in the Parish of Pyketillim, with Glimpses of the Parish Politics about AD 1843

tags: moderation, scotland, scots-language, scots-leid

1 likes

“An intelligent and industrious crofter was proud to show our commissioner a cart of his own particular invention, and which, though furnished with what is proverbially regarded as a superfluity in the shape of of a 'third wheel', seemed exceedingly well adapted to its purpose. It was in use at the time for the purpose of driving home turnips from the field, the team consisting of the owner's two cows; and a more tractable or docile team it would have been difficult to imagine, indeed the assurance was given by a neighbour that not only did they obey their owner readily and efficiently in the draught, but that one of them, in particular, would come from the most distant part of the holding whenever he chose to call and wave his hat as a signal that her presence was wanted for business!”
― William Alexander, Rural life in Victorian Aberdeenshire

tags: aberdeenshire, cattle, crofting

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“The hour was not so very early, it being only a little before eight o'clock, but even the most frequented streets of Greyness were so deserted that the desultory tread of some heavy-footed police constable, as he daun'ert along the pavement, was sufficiently notable to arouse the attention of wakeful people who occupied front rooms toward the street, as well as of the few who from various causes had been prompted to peep out of doors; and the thoroughfares of the place were still practically in possession of incidental groups of pigeons, which flitted hither and thither, lighting in twos and threes on the causeway to pick up what they could find, and croodle threateningly at each other as they tramped round tail-ward in the vicinity of edible treasures, the ownership of which was undetermined.”
― William Alexander, My Uncle the Baillie

tags: aberdeen, pigeons

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