Edward James Cowan

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". ...

(15 February 1944 – 2 January 2022) was a Scottish historian.

Biography

Cowan was born on 15 February 1944 in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

Midlothian Midlothian (; ) is registration county, lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area and one of 32 council areas of Scotland used for local government. Midlothian lies in the east-central Lowlands, bordering the City of Edinburgh council ar ...

. Educated at Dumfries Academy, in his sixth year he was Head Boy and played Petruchio in a production of Shakespeare's ''

The Taming of the Shrew ''The Taming of the Shrew'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1590 and 1592. The play begins with a framing device, often referred to as the induction, in which a mischievous nobleman tricks a drunke ...

''.Ansell, Michael & Black, Ronnie, "Edward J. ('Ted') Cowan, 1944 - 2022", in Ansell, Michael, Black, Ronald, & Cowan, Edward J. (eds.) (2022), ''Galloway: The Lost Province of Gaelic Scotland'', John Dewar Publishers Ltd., pp. 438 & 439, He was a professor of Scottish History at 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 ...

and Director of the University's Dumfries Campus. He had previously taught at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

and at the

University of Guelph The University of Guelph (abbreviated U of G) is a comprehensive Public university, public research university in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. It was established in 1964 after the amalgamation of Ontario Agricultural College (1874), the MacDonald I ...

, Ontario. 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 ...

, he was also a visiting professor in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States. He lived in the Glenkens area of

Kirkcudbrightshire Kirkcudbrightshire ( ) or the County of Kirkcudbright or the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright is one of the Counties of Scotland, historic counties of Scotland, covering an area in the south-west of the country. Until 1975, Kirkcudbrightshire was an ...

. Cowan died from

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma, is a malignant tumor that begins in the lung. Lung cancer is caused by genetic damage to the DNA of cells in the airways, often caused by cigarette smoking or inhaling damaging chemicals. Damaged ...

on 2 January 2022, at the age of 77.

Books

*Ed., with Michael Ansell and Ronald Black, ''Galloway: The Lost Province of Gaelic Scotland'' (John Dewar Publishers Ltd., 2022) 439pp. *''Folk in Print: Scotland’s Chapbook Heritage, 1750-1850'', with Mike Paterson (Edinburgh: John Donald, 2007) 438pp. *Ed. ''The Wallace Book'' (Edinburgh: John Donald, 2007) 240pp. *For Freedom Alone': The Declaration of Arbroath 1320'' (East Linton: Tuckwell Press, 2003) 162pp. *''Scottish History: The Power of the Past'', ed. with Richard Finlay (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2002) 279pp. *''Scottish Fairy Belief: A History'', with Lizanne Henderson (East Linton: Tuckwell Press, 2001; Edinburgh: Birlinn, 2007) 242pp. *''Alba:

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

Scotland in the Medieval Era'', ed. with R. A. McDonald (East Linton: Tuckwell Press, 2000; reprinted 2003) 282pp. *Ed. ''The

Ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...

in Scottish History'' (East Linton: Tuckwell Press, 2000) 184pp. *''Scotland Since 1688: Struggle for a Nation'', with Richard Finlay (London: CIMA, 2000) 192pp. *''The Polar Twins: Scottish History and Scottish Literature'', ed. with Douglas Gifford (Edinburgh: John Donald, 1999) 310pp. *Ed. ''The People's Past: Scottish Folk, Scottish History'' (Edinburgh: Polygon, 1980; reprinted 1995) 223pp. *''Montrose: For Covenant and King'' (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1977; reprinted Edinburgh: Canongate, 1995) 326pp. Winner of a Scottish Arts Council Award.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cowan, Edward J. 1944 births 2022 deaths Deaths from lung cancer in Scotland Academics of the University of Glasgow Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Historians of Scotland 20th-century Scottish historians Scottish literary critics Academics from Edinburgh 21st-century Scottish historians