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Walter Scott, the son of a solicitor, was born in Edinburgh in 1771. When a young boy, Scott contracted polio and was sent to his grandfather's farm at Sandyknowle to recuperate, and therefore got to know the Border country which had a profound influence on his future writing.

Educated at Edinburgh University, Scott became a law clerk in his father's office. After 1792 Scott worked as an advocate but his main ambition was to become a writer. In 1797 he published a translation of Burger's The Wild Huntsmen. This was followed by the three volume, Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border (1802-1803) and The Lay of the Last Minstrel (1805).

After becoming a partner in the printing business, James Ballantyne & Co, Scott wrote and published The Lay of the Lake (1810), Rokeby (1813), The Bridal of Triermain (1813), The Lord of the Isles (1815) and Harold the Dauntless (1817).

Scott also contributed to the Edinburgh Review but he disapproved of its support for the Whigs and in 1809 helped establish the Tory journal, The Quarterly Review.

In 1813 Scott refused the offer of poet laureate and recommended Robert Southey for the post. Scott now turned from poetry to the novel. Over the next ten years he anonymously published several novels including Waverly (1814), Guy Mannering (1815), The Antiquary (1816), Rob Roy (1817), The Heart of Midlothian (1818), Inanhoe (1819), Kenilworth (1821) and Redgauntlet (1824).

Scott, who had established the form of the historical novel, was an extremely popular writer. However, James Ballantyne & Co went bankrupt in 1826 and Scott found himself liable for a debt of £114,000. Scott worked tirelessly to pay off his creditors and over the next few years wrote Woodstock (1826), The Fair Maid of Perth (1828), Anne of Geierstein (1829) and Count Robert of Paris (1831). Sir Walter Scott, who was created a baronet in 1820, died at Abbotsford in 1832.

 

 

 

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