J. G. (John Gibson) Lockhart

Born in Scotland in 1794, John Gibson Lockhart became known as a writer, critic, editor, and biographer. He studied at the University of Glasgow and at Oxford, and early in his career he wrote for Blackwood’s Magazine, where his witty and often cutting critical style earned him a strong reputation.

Lockhart also wrote fiction, including Adam Blair and Reginald Dalton, but he is most often remembered for his long association with Sir Walter Scott. He married Scott’s daughter Sophia, and after Scott’s death he wrote the monumental Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott, a work that helped secure his lasting place in literary history.

He later served for many years as editor of the Quarterly Review. Readers coming to Lockhart today will find a figure deeply involved in the literary culture of his age: ambitious, learned, sometimes severe, and closely connected with some of the biggest names in 19th-century British letters.