John Longmuir

John Longmuir (1803–1883) was a versatile Scottish minister and antiquary, known as a poet and lexicographer.

Life

The son of John Longmuir and Christian Paterson, he was born near Stonehaven, Kincardineshire, 13 November 1803. In 1814, his parents moved to Aberdeen, where he was educated at the grammar school and Marischal College. After graduating M.A. he completed his divinity studies, and taught for some years in schools at Stonehaven and Forres. The presbytery of Forres licensed him to preach in July 1833. ^[1]

In 1837, Longmuir was appointed evening lecturer in Trinity Chapel, Aberdeen, and in September 1840 was ordained to the Mariners' Church there. At the Disruption of 1843 he went over with most of his congregation to the Free Church of Scotland, and continued in the same post till 1881. ^[1]

Longmuir was for some years lecturer on geology at King's College, Aberdeen, and on his retirement in 1859 was granted the degree of LL.D. He died at Aberdeen 7 May 1883. He was twice married, first in 1835, and again in 1857.^[1]

Works

Longmuir's first publication was The College and other Poems (anon., Aberdeen, 1825). The leading poem dealt with the defects of the academic system of the time. Three later volumes of verse were Bible Lays, a collection of original poems (1st. edit. Aberdeen, 1838; 2nd edit. Edinburgh, 1877); Ocean Lays, a compilation, with twenty-five original poems (Edinburgh, 1854); and Lays for the Lambs, forty-two pieces written for the children of his church (Aberdeen, 1860). ^[1]

He produced two guidebooks, one to Dunnottar Castle (Aberdeen, 1835), many editions; the other to Speyside (Aberdeen, 1860). His Maiden Stone of Bennachie (Aberdeen, 1869), on the Maiden Stone monolith, put a tradition connected with it into verse. In A Run through the Land of Burns and the Covenanters (Aberdeen, 1872) he attacked Mark Napier's attempt to disprove that two female covenanters were drowned at Wigtown, and celebrated the "two Margarets" in verse. His edition of Alexander Ross of Lochlee's Helenore (Edinburgh, 1866) appeared with a life of the author.^[1]

Longmuir was also a lexicographer. He edited a combined version of John Walker's and Noah Webster's Dictionaries (London, 1864), and Walker's Rhyming Dictionary (London, 1865), with an introduction on English versification. A revision of John Jamieson's etymological Scottish Dictionary provided his major work. His abridged edition was issued at Aberdeen in 1867, and a complete edition in 4 vols. (Paisley, 1879–82). On the title-page he appears as joint-editor with David Donaldson.^[1]

Several of Longmuir's sermons were published separately, generally with an original hymn attached. He was popular as a platform speaker, and successful as a temperance advocate.^[1]

References

Attribution

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Hadden, James Cuthbert (1893). "Longmuir, John". In Lee, Sidney. Dictionary of National Biography. 34. London: Smith, Elder & Co.