author
Violet Flint
1824–1908
A gifted golfer and medical student, Violet Flint turned the links of St Andrews into the setting for a lively, supernatural golfing adventure. Her best-known work blends Scottish dialect, comic verse, local color, and a memorable match with the Devil.
1 Audiobook
About the author
Violet Flint (1824–1908) is remembered primarily for A Golfing Idyll; or, The Skipper’s Round with the Deil on the Links of St Andrews, a humorous verse narrative first published in the 1890s. Project Gutenberg records Flint as the author and identifies J. E. Thomson as an alias associated with her name.
In the book’s preface, Flint describes herself as a lady medical student studying in London and an accomplished golfer familiar with St Andrews. She presents the poem as a playful retelling of a story told by an old caddie, written for her own amusement and for the golfing community.
Flint’s work offers a lively glimpse of Victorian golf culture, drawing on Scottish speech, St Andrews landmarks, temperance themes, folklore, and comic storytelling. Although little biographical information about her has survived, her unusual blend of sporting knowledge and literary humor has kept A Golfing Idyll in circulation.