John Robin Jenkins (11 September 1912 – 24 February 2005) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

writer of 30 published novels, the most celebrated being '' The Cone Gatherers''. He also published two collections of short stories.

Career

John Robin Jenkins was born in Flemington near

Cambuslang Cambuslang (, from ) is a town on the south-eastern outskirts of Greater Glasgow, Scotland. With approximately 30,000 residents, it is the 27th-largest town in Scotland by population, although, never having had a town hall, it may also be cons ...

in 1912 to Annie (''née'' Robin) and James Jenkins, spirit salesman. In 1919, his father died after serving in the trenches during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and his mother worked in domestic service to support her children. He won a bursary to attend the

Hamilton Academy Hamilton Academy was a Boarding school, boarding and day school in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It was founded in 1588 as a boy's school and was open for nearly four centuries. In the late 19th century, ...

, then a fee-paying school. The theme of escaping circumstances through education at such a school was to form the basis of Jenkins's later novel ''Happy for the Child'' (1953). Winning a scholarship, he subsequently studied literature 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 ...

, graduating in 1936. During the

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 ...

he registered as a

conscientious objector A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of conscience or religion. The term has also been extended to objecting to working for the military–indu ...

and was sent to work in forestry in

Argyll Argyll (; archaically Argyle; , ), sometimes called Argyllshire, is a Shires of Scotland, historic county and registration county of western Scotland. The county ceased to be used for local government purposes in 1975 and most of the area ...

(forestry work would re-appear in ''The Cone Gatherers''). Upon release of his first novel, ''So Gaily Sings the Lark'' (also derived from his conscientious objector experience) in 1950, he adopted the

pen name A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...

'Robin Jenkins'. In the early years of his writing career, Jenkins worked as an English and history teacher. In the 1950s, he taught at Riverside Senior Secondary in Glasgow's East End and later moved with his family to Dunoon where he taught at Dunoon Grammar School. He spent four formative years at the Gaya School in

Sabah Sabah () is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah has land borders with the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and Indonesia's North Kalima ...

, Borneo, living there with his wife May and their children. Before that, he had held

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lang ...

teaching posts in both Kabul and Barcelona. His best-known novel, '' The Cone Gatherers'', is based on his forestry work as a conscientious objector and is often studied in Scottish schools. While ''The Cone Gatherers'' has been criticised as being devoid of any real sense of place, other novels such as ''The Thistle and the Grail'', his 1954 football story, paint vivid pictures of more accessible settings. His writing typically touches on many themes, including morality, the struggle between good and evil, war, class and social justice. ''Just Duffy'' is another of his novels which focuses on such themes, in a style which has been compared to that of the earlier Scottish writer, James Hogg. Jenkins was awarded the OBE in 1999 and in 2003 received the Andrew Fletcher of Saltoun prize from the

Saltire Society The Saltire Society is a membership organisation which aims to promote the understanding of the culture and heritage of Scotland, founded in 1936. The society organises lectures and publishes pamphlets, and presents a series of awards in the fiel ...

for his lifetime achievement. His portrait, by Jennifer McRae, is in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery of Scotland. The Robin Jenkins Literary Award has been established in his name.The Robin Jenkins Literary Award
Retrieved 20 October 2010 Robin Jenkins died in 2005, aged 92; his novel ''The Pearl-fishers'' was published posthumously in 2007.

Bibliography

Books

* ''So Gaily Sings the Lark'' (1950) * ''Happy for the Child'' (1953) * ''The Thistle and the Grail'' (1954) * '' The Cone Gatherers'' (1955) * ''Guests of War'' (1956) * ''The Missionaries'' (1957) * ''The Changeling'' (1958) * ''Love Is a Fervent Fire'' (1959) * ''Some Kind of Grace'' (1960) * ''Dust on the Paw'' (1961) * ''The Tiger of Gold'' (1962) * ''A Love of Innocence'' (1963) * ''The Sardana Dancers'' (1964) * ''A Very Scotch Affair'' (1968) * ''Holy Tree'' (1969) * ''The Expatriates'' (1971) * ''A Toast to the Lord'' (1972) * ''Far Cry from Bowmore and Other Stories'' (1973) (short story collection) * ''A Figure of Fun'' (1974) * ''A Would-be Saint'' (1978) * ''Fergus Lamont'' (1979) * ''The Awakening of George Darroch'' (1985) * ''Just Duffy'' (1988) * ''Poverty Castle'' (1991) * ''Willie Hogg'' (1993) * ''Leila'' (1995) * ''Lunderston Tales'' (1996) (short story collection) * ''Matthew and Sheila'' (1998) * ''Poor Angus'' (2000) * ''Childish Things'' (2001) * ''Lady Magdalen'' (2003) * ''The Pearl-fishers'' (†, 2007) * ''Flowers''

Articles

* 'Speaking as a Scot', in Lindsay, Maurice (ed.), ''The Scottish Review: Arts and Environment'', 27 August 1982, pp. 18 & 19,

Reviews

* Bruce, George, "The World of Robin Jenkins", a review of ''Love is a Fervent Fire'', in ''Saltire Review'', Vol. 6, No. 20, Spring 1960, The Saltire Society, Edinburgh, pp. 73 - 77 * Magnusson, Magnus, review of ''Some Kind of Grace'', in Thomson, David Cleghorn, ''Saltire Review'', Vol. 6, No. 23, Winter 1961, The Saltire Society, Edinburgh, pp. 75 & 76 * Magnusson, Magnus, review of ''Dust on the Paw'', in Gordon, Giles and Scott-Moncrieff, Michael (eds.). ''New Saltire'' 2: Autumn 1961, The Saltire Society, Edinburgh, pp. 66 & 67 * Craig, David (1980), review of ''Fergus Lamont'', in '' Cencrastus'' No. 2, Spring 1980, pp. 39 – 41, * Review of ''The Conegatherers'', in '' Cencrastus'' No. 4, Winter 1980–81, p. 47,

References

External links

BBC page on Robin Jenkins

*

Iain Crichton Smith Iain Crichton Smith, (Scottish Gaelic, Gaelic: ''Iain Mac a' Ghobhainn''; 1 January 1928 – 15 October 1998) was a Scottish people, Scottish poet and novelist, who wrote in both English and Gaelic. He was born in Glasgow, but moved to the Isl ...

's ' Scotnote' on 'The Cone Gatherers' https://web.archive.org/web/20100712113920/http://asls.org.uk/Scotnotes
The Robin Jenkins Award web site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jenkins, Robin 1912 births 2005 deaths People educated at Hamilton Academy People from Cambuslang Officers of the Order of the British Empire British conscientious objectors Scottish conscientious objectors 20th-century Scottish novelists Alumni of the University of Glasgow