John Galt
Novelist
1779-1839

Galt was born in Irvine on 2nd May 1779. His family moved to Greenock when he was ten and he stayed there for the next ten years. He moved to London in 1804 and tried to establish himself in business with little success. From 1809 to 1811 he toured the countries of the Mediterranean and became acquainted with Lord Byron, of whom he wrote the first biography. He wrote plays, poetry and biography before discovering his real métier as a novelist. From 1827 to 1829 he acted as manager of a company engaged in the settlement of a large part of Ontario.

Some of his other works, especially his Autobiography and Life of Byron, are interesting, but Galt's main achievement lies in thirteen novels which are innovative, diverse, intelligent and highly entertaining. A group of them which Galt called Tales of the West, are set mainly in the part of Scotland where he grew up: The Ayrshire legatees (1820), The Steamboat and Annals of the parish (1821), Sir Andrew Wylie, The Provost, The Gathering of the West, The Entail (1820), The Last of the lairds (1826). Together they amount to a comprehensive picture of life in the world of Galt's youth and for a generation or two before, from about 1760 to about 1820.

They make brilliant use of Scots for dialogue and sometimes for narrative. Galt himself spoke of the Scottish people as fortunate in:

"Possessing the whole range of the English language as well as their own, by which they enjoy an uncommonly rich vocabulary."

Even within this group of novels there is a remarkable range of techniques. Annals of the parish and The Provost are what Galt called "theoretical histories", so accurate that they can be accepted as reliable accounts of social change. Both of these are narrated in the first person and are masterpieces of ironic self-revelation. Sir Andrew Wylie is on a larger scale and is one of the first novels to deal with politics and with murder and detection. The Entail is even more ambitious in its emotional depth and sense of tragedy.

Ringan Gilhaize (1823) is a powerful historical novel, heightened by a spirit of passionate identification with the Covenanters. Lawrie Todd (1830) and Bogle Corbet (1831) are among the first novels to be set in Canada and the United States, The Member and The Radical (1832) are ironic political novels reflecting the agitation for parliamentary reform.

In 1834 Galt returned to Greenock and continued to write short stories with undiminished zest and humour. He died there on 11th April 1839.

Several of Galt's novels have stayed almost continuously in print and others have been rediscovered in recent years. Several are available in paperback. Among recent books about Galt are those by Ian A Gordon (1972) and PH Scott (1985).