author

Robert Craig Maclagan

1839–1919

A Scottish physician who ranged far beyond medicine, he also became an energetic collector of Highland folklore and customs. His work helped preserve stories, beliefs, and everyday traditions that might otherwise have been lost.

1 Audiobook

Evil eye in the western Highlands

Evil eye in the western Highlands

by Robert Craig Maclagan

About the author

Born in Edinburgh on March 6, 1839, Robert Craig Maclagan studied at the High School of Edinburgh and the University of Edinburgh, where he graduated with an MD in 1860. He built a career as a physician and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1869. He was also involved in military service and business, and is noted as a co-founder of the Scottish Association for the Medical Education of Women.

Maclagan is especially remembered for his work as an anthropologist and folklorist. Between 1893 and 1902, he and his collectors gathered a vast body of material from the West Highlands, recording folk medicine, customs, beliefs, tales, games, rhymes, recipes, weather lore, and place-name traditions. This collection, known as the Maclagan Manuscripts, runs to more than 9,000 pages and remains an important resource for the study of Scottish traditional life.

He also published widely, with works including Scottish Myths, The Games and Diversions of Argyleshire, Evil Eye in the Western Highlands, and Our Ancestors: Scots, Picts and Cymry. He died in Edinburgh on July 12, 1919. No confirmed portrait image was found during this search, so a profile image is not included.