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Synopsis

An informal biography of james douglas 1753-1819. by ronald jessup.

Item Description

8vo. 5.75 x 8.75 inches.[xiv] + 310 pp. Half title.

Illustrations

Illustrated by 32 pp. of 36 black and white plates and by vignettes and facsimiles in text.

Notes

James Douglas, antiquary and geologist, had a varied career. Born in London, he was educated at Manchester Grammar School, and sent to Italy as an agent for his brother William, a Manchester cloth merchant. Having misappropriated funds, he eventually ended up as a junior officer in the Austrian army, serving in Flanders before returning home and enrolling as a student at Peterhouse, Cambridge. After receiving a commission in the British army in 1779, he was sent to work on the Chatham Lines, under construction to protect the Dockyard, living in Rochester. This appointment gave him the opportunity to excavate barrows on the Lines and helped to develop his interest in archaeology, which had first been awakened by his visits to Vienna and Tongres in the Low Countries. His Travelling Anecdotes through Various Parts of Europe, was first published in Rochester in 1782. The following year he was elected to the Royal Society of Antiquaries and was also ordained. His two most influential publications were A Dissertation on the History of the Earth (1785) and Nenia Britannica (1793 in book form), both works relying to great extent on his excavations in Kent. His novels, including The Maid of Kent (1790 met with less success. The second part of this biography by Jessup, himself a distinguished archaeologist of Kent and Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, provides as selection of letters written by Douglas to a number of correspondents.