John Gibson Lockhart (1794-1854)

Writer and literary editor

John Gibson Lockhart was educated at Glasgow and Oxford. He studied law at Edinburgh, travelled widely on the continent and met Goethe at Weimar in 1817. On his return to Scotland he settled in Edinburgh and focussed on his writing as one of the principal contributors to 'Blackwood's Magazine'. His 'Peter's Letters to His Kinsfolk' of 1819 satirises the polite society in which he found himself. He later moved to London where he edited the 'Quarterly Review' and worked on biographies of Burns (1828) and Napoleon (1829). His literary tour de force was the seven volume 'Memoirs of the Life of Scott' of 1837-8. He was deeply affected by the death of his elder son, John Hugh, in 1831, followed by that of his wife Sophia in 1837. His last remaining son, Walter, predeceased him by one year. He died at Abbotsford and is buried in Dryburgh Abbey beside his father-in-law, Sir Walter Scott, the subject of his greatest biography.

Birth in 1794

John Gibson Lockhart was born on 12 June 1794, the son of the Reverend Mr John Lockhart, minister of the parish and Elizabeth Gibson. The baptism entry in the Old Parish Register (OPR) for Cambusnethan records that he was their first child.

Birth entry for John Gibson Lockhart in the OPR for Cambusnethan (21 KB jpeg)
National Records of Scotland, OPR 628/1, page 23

Marriage in 1820

John Gibson Lockhart married Sophia Charlotte Scott, eldest daughter of Sir Walter Scott of Abbotsford, on 20 April 1820 by the Reverend Mr Shannon. The entry in the Old Parish Register for Edinburgh gives his occupation as advocate and place of residence as St Andrews parish and Charlotte's as St George’s parish.

Marriage entry for John Gibson Lockhart in the OPR for Edinburgh (15 KB jpeg)
National Records of Scotland, OPR 685-1/54, page 342

Testament of John Gibson Lockhart

National Records of Scotland, SC62/44/24 pp 621-637

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