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At the Circulating Library

A Database of Victorian Fiction, 1837–1901

A Database of Victorian Fiction, 1837–1901

Author: John M. Whitelaw

Author: John M. Whitelaw (1814–1881)

Biography: John M. Whitelaw was born in 1814 in Berwick on Tweed. He was educated at the Universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh and he was ordained a minister in the Church of Scotland in 1842. Whitelaw served as the minister of Dunkeld then Athelstaneford, East Lothian (1846 until death). He received an honorary LL.D. in 1866. Whitelaw wrote two novels: the anonymous Vanity Church (1861) which the Westminster Reivew called "the very worst book which has been published for some time," and the slightly better Seacliffe (1877). He also wrote a religious book and spiritual verse. He died in 1881 after many years of delicate health leaving a wife and three children.

Author Tags:

References: Aberdeen Weekly Journal (17 December 1881); Probate; Scottish Census (1881); Scottish Notes and Queries (March 1902)

Fiction Titles:

  1. Vanity Church.  2 vol.  London: Saunders and Otley, 1861.
  2. Seacliffe.  3 vol.  London: Provost, 1877.