Eric Robert Russell Linklater CBE (8 March 1899 – 7 November 1974) was a Welsh-born Scottish poet, fiction writer,

military historian Military history is the study of armed conflict in the history of humanity, and its impact on the societies, cultures and economies thereof, as well as the resulting changes to local and international relationships. Professional historians ...

, and

travel writer The genre of travel literature or travelogue encompasses outdoor literature, guide books, nature writing, and travel memoirs. History Early examples of travel literature include the '' Periplus of the Erythraean Sea'' (generally considered ...

. For '' The Wind on the Moon'', a

children's A child () is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking countries, the legal definition of ''child ...

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

novel, he won the 1944 Carnegie Medal from the

Library Association The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP, pronounced ) is a professional body for librarians, information specialists and knowledge managers in the United Kingdom. It was established in 2002 as a merger of th ...

for the year's best children's book by a

British subject The term "British subject" has several different meanings depending on the time period. Before 1949, it referred to almost all subjects of the British Empire (including the United Kingdom, Dominions, and colonies, but excluding protectorates ...

Early life

Linklater was born in

Penarth Penarth ( , ) is a town and Community (Wales), community in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, approximately south of Cardiff city centre on the west shore of the Severn Estuary at the southern end of Cardiff Bay. Penarth is a Seaside resort#Brit ...

Vale of Glamorgan The Vale of Glamorgan ( ), locally referred to as ''The Vale'', is a Principal areas of Wales, county borough in the South East Wales, south-east of Wales. It borders Bridgend County Borough to the west, Cardiff to the east, Rhondda Cynon Taf t ...

, Wales to Orcadian Robert Baikie Linklater (1865–1916), a master mariner, and Mary Elizabeth (c. 1867–1957). He was educated at Aberdeen Grammar School and the

University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen (abbreviated ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; ) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Scotland. It was founded in 1495 when William Elphinstone, Bis ...

, where he was president of the Aberdeen University Debater. He spent many years in

Orkney Orkney (), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago off the north coast of mainland Scotland. The plural name the Orkneys is also sometimes used, but locals now consider it outdated. Part of the Northern Isles along with Shetland, ...

and identified with the islands, where his father had been born. His maternal grandfather was a Swedish-born sea captain, so he had Scandinavian origins through both parents. Linklater is an Orcadian name derived from the

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

; throughout his life he maintained a sympathetic interest in

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

.J. Keay and J. Keay (1994) '' Collins Encyclopaedia of Scotland''. London: HarperCollins.

Career

Linklater served in the

Black Watch The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland (3 SCOTS) is an infantry battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland. The regiment was created as part of the Childers Reforms in 1881, when the 42nd (Royal Highland) Regiment ...

in 1917–1918 before receiving a bullet wound, then became a sniper. His experience of trench warfare is described in his memoir ''Fanfare for a Tin Hat'' (1970), and at one remove in his 1938 novel ''The Impregnable Women'', describing an imaginary war against France. As an undergraduate at Aberdeen University in 1922, Linklater wrote the first musical comedy for the Aberdeen Student Show, ''Stella, the Bajanella'', with music by J. S. Taylor. Twenty-four years later, during his tenure as Rector of the University of Aberdeen, his play ''To Meet the Macgregors'' was performed as the 1946 Student Show. Abandoning medical studies in Aberdeen, Linklater spent 1925–1927 in

Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

as an assistant editor of ''

The Times of India ''The Times of India'' (''TOI'') is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by the Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, third-largest newspaper in India by circulation an ...

'', then travelled extensively before returning to Aberdeen as an assistant to the Professor of English and spending 1928–1930 as a Commonwealth fellow at Cornell and Berkeley. As a writer, Linklater's career took off in 1929. His success began in his early career years. Altogether he published 23 novels, three volumes of stories, two of verse, ten plays, three works of autobiography and 23 of essays and histories. His third novel, ''Juan in America'', was a hugely popular picaresque, with some of the extravagance of Byron's ''

Don Juan Don Juan (), also known as Don Giovanni ( Italian), is a legendary fictional Spanish libertine who devotes his life to seducing women. The original version of the story of Don Juan appears in the 1630 play (''The Trickster of Seville and t ...

'', based on experiences of the absurdity of the

Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic b ...

era, with its resulting gangsterism.ODNB entry. It is sprinkled with memorable remarks: "I've been married six months. She looks like a million dollars, but she only knows a hundred and twenty words and she's only got two ideas in her head. The other one's hats." The character returns in ''Juan in China'' (1937). Linklater also wrote three children's novels: ''The Wind on the Moon'' (1944), ''The Pirates in the Deep Green Sea'' (1949) and ''Karina With Love'' (1958). The first is about two sisters, whose adventures include becoming kangaroos and rescuing their father from a Hitlerian tyrant, enlisting the anthropomorphic help of a puma and a falcon. Its storytelling skill and treatment of wider themes such as imprisonment and freedom won it a Carnegie Medal. Linklater's Orcadian and Scottish sympathies led him to literary and political involvement in the Scottish Renaissance, culminating in his unsuccessful National Party of Scotland candidacy at the 1933 East Fife by-election. ''Magnus Merriman'' (1934) was an acerbic fictionalised description of the debacle. He settled in Orkney with his new wife in 1933. The author's attitude to war and the moral implications of diplomacy became sharper in ''Judas'' (1939), which explores the concepts of loyalty and treachery amid a strong indictment of the desertion of

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

by Britain and France in the name of

appeasement Appeasement, in an International relations, international context, is a diplomacy, diplomatic negotiation policy of making political, material, or territorial concessions to an aggressive power (international relations), power with intention t ...

. The worsening international situation led to expansion of the Territorial Army (TA). It was decided to raise new units of anti-aircraft and coastal artillery in Orkney to defend the

Scapa Flow Scapa Flow (; ) is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, sheltered by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray,S. C. George, ''Jutland to Junkyard'', 1973. South Ronaldsay and Hoy. Its sheltered waters have played an impor ...

naval base, with a fortress company of the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is the engineering arm of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces ...

to support them. The Lord Lieutenant of Orkney and Shetland asked Linklater, still a Reserve officer, to raise one of these units, and he chose the '

Sapper A sapper, also called a combat engineer, is a combatant or soldier who performs a variety of military engineering duties, such as breaching fortifications, demolitions, bridge-building, laying or clearing minefields, preparing field defenses ...

s'. He was commissioned as

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

and second-in-command of the

Orkney Fortress Royal Engineers The Orkney Fortress Royal Engineers was a small and short-lived unit of Britain's Territorial Army (United Kingdom), Territorial Army raised just before World War II to assist in the defence of the Royal Navy base at Scapa Flow in the Orkney, Orkne ...

on 16 September 1938, but was effective commander. The unit consisted of a single company headquartered at

Kirkwall Kirkwall (, , or ; ) is the largest town in Orkney, an archipelago to the north of mainland Scotland. First mentioned in the ''Orkneyinga saga'', it is today the location of the headquarters of the Orkney Islands Council and a transport hub wi ...

, mainly to operate the electrical generators for the Scapa Flow defences and man the searchlights for the guns. The men were called out from farms and villages shortly before the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and served through the winter of 1939/1940, when Orkney received a number of ''

Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...

'' raids. By mid-1940 reinforcements were pouring into the Orkney and Shetland defences and Linklater's command was broken up.Eric Linklater, ''The Northern Garrisons: The Army at War'', London, 1941; (e-book: London: Bloomsbury Reader, 2014). As a well-known author, Linklater was soon employed by the

War Office The War Office has referred to several British government organisations throughout history, all relating to the army. It was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, at ...

Public Relations department to write official "instant histories" of the war, such as ''The Defence of Calais'' (1941) and ''The Northern Garrisons'' (1941), which described the life of British troops stationed in remote locations, including Orkney. This culminated in service in Italy in 1944–1945, which led to his novel about an equivocal Italian soldier, ''Private Angelo'' (1946), which contrasts nationalism with a sense of national community: "I hope you will not liberate us out of existence", is a remark Angelo makes. As one reference work puts it, Angelo "lacks 'the great and splendid gift' of courage, and consequently makes a poor soldier, although he is especially assiduous in retreating, and ultimately deserts." In 1951 Linklater published a semi-official account of ''The Campaign in Italy'' and also visited the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

for the War Office as a temporary lieutenant colonel. Linklater moved back to the Scottish mainland in 1947 to Pitcalzean House, near Hill of Fearn in

Ross-shire Ross-shire (; ), or the County of Ross, was a county in the Scottish Highlands. It bordered Sutherland to the north and Inverness-shire to the south, as well as having a complex border with Cromartyshire, a county consisting of numerous enc ...

. His abilities and reputation as a novelist waned somewhat, but he turned to historical writing, and with great effect to autobiography.

Recognition

Linklater was Rector of the

in 1945–1948 and received an honorary degree from the university in 1949. He was appointed CBE in 1954, served as deputy lieutenant of

Ross and Cromarty Ross and Cromarty (), is an area in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. In modern usage, it is a registration county and a Lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area. Between 1889 and 1975 it was a Shires of Scotland, county. Historical ...

in 1968–1973, and was 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 ...

in 1971.

Family and death

On 1 June 1933 Linklater married Marjorie MacIntyre (1909–1997), an

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 ...

-born, English-educated actress and campaigner for the arts and the environment. She later became active in local politics and on the

Scottish Arts Council The Scottish Arts Council (), was a Scottish public body responsible for the funding, development and promotion of the arts in Scotland. The Council primarily distributed funding from the Scottish Government as well as National Lottery funds ...

in 1957–1963. They had four children, including Kristin Linklater, Hamish Linklater and Magnus Linklater and Andro Linklater Linklater died in Aberdeen on 7 November 1974 from

thrombosis Thrombosis () is the formation of a Thrombus, blood clot inside a blood vessel, obstructing the flow of blood through the circulatory system. When a blood vessel (a vein or an artery) is injured, the body uses platelets (thrombocytes) and fib ...

at the age of 75. He was buried in the churchyard at St Michael's, Harray, on

Mainland, Orkney The Mainland, also known as Pomona, is the main island of Orkney, Scotland. Both of Orkney's burghs, Kirkwall and Stromness, lie on the island, which is also the heart of Orkney's ferry and air connections. Seventy-five per cent of Orkney's popu ...

Main works

Reviews

* Ritchie, Harry (1981), ''

Buchan Buchan is a coastal district in the north-east of Scotland, bounded by the Ythan and Deveron rivers. It was one of the original provinces of the Kingdom of Alba. It is now one of the six committee areas of Aberdeenshire. Etymology The ge ...

and Linklater'', which includes a review of ''Laxdale Hall'', in Murray, Glen (ed.), '' Cencrastus'' No. 7, Winter 1981–82, p. 46,

References

;Citations *

External links

* at slainte.org.uk/Scotauth * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Linklater, Eric 1899 births 1974 deaths 20th-century Scottish historians Alumni of the University of Aberdeen British Army personnel of World War I British Army personnel of World War II British Army personnel of the Korean War Carnegie Medal in Literature winners Civil servants in the Ministry of Information (United Kingdom) Deputy lieutenants of Ross and Cromarty Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Linklater family People educated at Aberdeen Grammar School People from Penarth Rectors of the University of Aberdeen Linklater 20th-century Scottish autobiographers Scottish children's writers Scottish journalists Scottish military historians Scottish National Party politicians Scottish novelists Scottish people of Swedish descent Scottish Renaissance Scottish short story writers Scottish travel writers Writers from Orkney Presidents of the Saltire Society Commanders_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire