author
George Chalmers
1742–1825
A Scottish antiquarian and political writer, he spent years collecting records and arguments about Britain, Ireland, and the American colonies. His books are rich with the curiosity of someone who loved archives as much as debate.
1 Audiobook
The Life of Daniel De Foe
by George Chalmers
About the author
Born in Fochabers, Moray, in 1742, he was educated in Scotland and studied law before traveling to Maryland as a young man. He practiced law in Baltimore, but the American Revolution changed the course of his life, and he returned to Britain, where he later worked in government service connected with trade and plantations.
He became known as an antiquarian, historian, and political writer with a deep interest in documentary evidence. Much of his work focused on the constitutional history of Britain and Ireland and on the history of the American colonies, and he developed a reputation for tireless archival research.
Among his best-known works is Caledonia, an ambitious historical and topographical account of Scotland. He died in 1825, leaving behind a body of writing valued for its industrious scholarship and for the window it gives into historical research in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.