John Galt
The novelist John Galt was born in Irvine in 1779 and
educated locally until the age of 10, when his family moved to
Greenock. After working as a clerk for a shipping company in the
town, Galt moved to London in 1804 to seek his fortune. He started
writing plays and travel guides at the same time as pursuing
various business ventures around Europe.
Galt's travels brought him into contact with Lord Byron, who
encouraged his ambitions as a novelist. Galt was to write the first
biography of the doomed poet after his death in 1824. However, it
was the Scots novels which made Galt's reputation as a writer.
Books including 'The Ayrshire Legatees'. 'The Last of the Lairds'
and 'Annals of the Parish' drew heavily upon his Ayrshire
childhood.
In 1827, Galt emigrated to Canada, where he was for a time
the manager of a settlement company in Ontario. His new novels
'Lawrie Todd' and 'Bogie Corbet' were among the first to be set in
the Americas. Following his return to Scotland in 1834, he wrote
mainly short stories until his death in 1839.
