Leitch Ritchie

Born in Greenock around 1800, Leitch Ritchie began working life as a clerk in Glasgow before turning fully to writing in the 1820s. He built a varied career as a novelist, journalist, and travel writer, contributing to literary periodicals and publishing books that mixed storytelling with a strong sense of place.

His fiction included Schinderhannes, The Robber of the Rhine, The Magician, and Wearyfoot Common, the last often noted as his best-known novel. He was also associated with the popular illustrated annuals of the period, writing travel volumes on places such as France, Germany, Russia, and Italy.

In his later years, he edited Chambers's Journal. Ritchie died on January 14, 1865, and is remembered today as a lively example of the 19th-century literary man of letters, moving easily between journalism, fiction, and travel writing.