David Doig

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and Literature, letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". ...

LLD (1719–1800) was a Scottish educator, philologist and writer known for historical and philosophical works. He was Rector of Stirling High School from 1760 to 1800. Doig is also believed to have been the inventor of the tartan pattern now associated with

Burberry Burberry Group plc is a British luxury fashion house established in 1856 by Thomas Burberry and headquartered in London, England. It designs and distributes ready to wear, including trench coats, leather accessories, and footwear. It is l ...

Life

David was born 14 Feb 1719 at Mill of Melgund,

Aberlemno Aberlemno (, IPA: �opəɾˈʎɛunəx is a Civil parishes in Scotland, parish and small village in the Scotland, Scottish council area of Angus, Scotland, Angus. It is noted for three large carved Pictish stones (and one fragment) dating from t ...

, Angus, son of David Doig and Ann Sturrock. His father, who was a small farmer, died while he was an infant, and his mother married again. He was successful in a Latin competition for a bursary at the

University of St. Andrews The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, following the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, t ...

. Having finished the classical and philosophical course and proceeded B.A., he began the study of divinity, but scruples regarding the

Westminster Confession of Faith The Westminster Confession of Faith, or simply the Westminster Confession, is a Reformed confession of faith. Drawn up by the 1646 Westminster Assembly as part of the Westminster Standards to be a confession of the Church of England, it becam ...

prevented him from entering the ministry of the

Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland (CoS; ; ) is a Presbyterian denomination of Christianity that holds the status of the national church in Scotland. It is one of the country's largest, having 245,000 members in 2024 and 259,200 members in 2023. While mem ...

. Doig taught from 1749 in the parochial schools of Monifieth,

Kennoway Kennoway is a village in Fife, Scotland, near the larger population centres in the area of Leven and Methil. It had an estimated population of in . It is about three miles inland from the Firth of Forth, north of Leven. This position gave it i ...

and Falkland, Fifeshire. His reputation then gained for him the rectorship of the grammar school of

Stirling Stirling (; ; ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Central Belt, central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town#Scotland, market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the roya ...

, a post he filled for over 40 years. In addition to Greek and Latin Doig had mastered Hebrew and Arabic. The

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

conferred on him the honorary degree of LL.D., and on the same day he received from St. Andrews his diploma as M.A. He was also elected a fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

, and a fellow of the

Society of Antiquaries of Scotland The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland is the senior antiquarian body of Scotland, with its headquarters in the National Museum of Scotland, Chambers Street, Edinburgh. The Society's aim is to promote the cultural heritage of Scotland. The usu ...

. Doig was elected a Fellow of the

in 1798. His proposers were Dr James Gregory,

Andrew Dalzell Andrew Dalzell (sometimes shown as Andrew Dalzel or Andrew Dalziel) FRSE (1742–1806) was a Scottish scholar, Professor of Classics (Edinburgh), Professor of Greek at the University of Edinburgh, and prominent figure during the Scottish Enligh ...

, and

John Playfair John Playfair FRSE, FRS (10 March 1748 – 20 July 1819) was a Church of Scotland minister, remembered as a scientist and mathematician, and a professor of natural philosophy at the University of Edinburgh. He is best known for his book ''Illu ...

. Doig died in

on 16 March 1800, aged 81. He is buried in the Holy Rude Cemetery next to

Stirling Castle Stirling Castle, located in Stirling, is one of the largest and most historically and architecturally important castles in Scotland. The castle sits atop an Intrusive rock, intrusive Crag and tail, crag, which forms part of the Stirling Sill ge ...

. A mural tablet, with an inscription in commemoration of his virtues and learning, was raised by his friend John Ramsay of Ochtertyre. The town of Stirling also erected a marble monument to his memory, with a Latin epitaph written by himself.

Family

Doig was married to Isabella Janet Bower (1727-1762) in

Monifieth Monifieth () is a town and former police burgh in the council area of Angus, Scotland. It is situated on the north bank of the Firth of Tay on the east coast. In , the population of Monifieth was estimated at , making it the fifth largest town ...

on 17 November 1749. They had children: Isabella, Ann, Jean, David, George, and Patrick. Their daughter Isabella (1751-1819) married Dr. John Aird (c.1740-1790) with sons William, David, and John. The next four children died young. Patrick Doig (1762-1833) married Jane Austin (1781-1849)with a son David (1812-1819); Patrick later became a medical doctor in Antigua.

Works

Doig's first known appearance in print was some twenty pages of annotation on the '' Gaberlunzie-man'', in an edition of that and another old Scottish poem, '' Christ's Kirk on the Green'', published in 1782 by his friend and neighbour John Callander of Craigforth. ''Two Letters on the Savage State, addressed to the late Lord Kaims'' (London, 1792) attacked the views of

Lord Kames Henry Home, Lord Kames (1696–27 December 1782) was a Scottish writer, philosopher and judge who played a major role in Scotland's Agricultural Revolution. A central figure of the Scottish Enlightenment, he was a founding member of the ...

in '' Sketches of the History of Man'' (1774). The first of the letters, from 1775, had been sent to Kames, who was passing the Christmas vacation a few miles from Stirling, and who invited Doig to dinner next day. Doig's next publication was ''Extracts from a Poem on the Prospect from Stirling Castle'' (Stirling, 1796). He contributed to vol. iii. of the ''Transactions'' of the Royal Society of Edinburgh a dissertation "On the Ancient Hellenes". He also wrote in the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' third edition the articles on "Mythology", "Mysteries", and "Philology". They brought Doig correspondence with William Vincent and

Jacob Bryant Jacob Bryant (1715–1804) was an English scholar and mythographer, who has been described as "the outstanding figure among the mythagogues who flourished in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries." Life Bryant was born at Plymouth ...

. Besides Latin and English poems Doig left some treatises in manuscript. A partial list was in ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', 8th edit. viii. 92.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Doig, David 1719 births 1800 deaths 18th-century Scottish writers 18th-century Scottish male writers Scottish poets Scottish educators Philosophy writers