Recovering Scottish History: John Hill Burton and Scottish National Identity in the Nineteenth Century

Providing a reassessment of John Hill Burton, a significant figure in 19th-century Scottish thought, this book presents a revision of the predominant historiographic interpretation of nineteenth-century Scotland. It traces Burton's remarkably diverse social and intellectual acquaintance, and equally varied literary endeavours, from his early life and education in 1820s Aberdeen to his increasingly prominent profile in the Edinburgh of Scott, Jeffrey and Cockburn. A detailed assessment of Burton's History of Scotland (1873) uncovers major themes which are then related to his formative experiences in the social and cultural world of his time. This analysis and an examination of the enthusiastic reception of the work at home and abroad overturn orthodox assumptions of the 'death' of Scottish history in the 19th century.

Table of Contents:
Introduction: Recovering Hill BurtonChapter 1: Perspectives on Scottish History in the Nineteenth CenturyChapter 2: Burton in Aberdeen and Edinburgh, 1809–49Chapter 3: Turning to History, Edinburgh 1850–70Chapter 4: Utilitarian HistoryChapter 5: Romantic HistoryChapter 6: Gothic HistoryChapter 7: History as TheatreChapter 8: On the Pedestal, 1871–81Chapter 9: History and Heritage: the Revival of Scottish National Identity. Epilogue

About the Author :
Craig Beveridge is an independent scholar who trained and pursued research in history at the University of Edinburgh where he won the Kirkpatrick Prize. He subsequently pursued a career in public service management but continued to research and write. His previous publications include Scotland After Enlightenment: Image and Tradition in Modern Scottish Culture (Polygon, 1997) and The Eclipse of Scottish Culture: Inferiorism and the Intellectuals, (Polygon, 1989), both co-authored with R. M. Turnbull.These works attracted public interest and controversy, were widely reviewed, and have continued to be recognised and cited in prominent books from a variety of standpoints as distinctive contributions to the debates on Scottish culture and historiography over recent decades. He has been recognised as an prominent figure in the cultural and political reappraisal which began following the failed 1979 Referendum on the Scottish constitution, arguing for a reassertion of Scottish cultural identity both in terms of the country’s intellectual traditions and in response to predominant historiographic approaches which devalorised the nation’s past. He advanced these aims both in the above works and as an influential contributor to the leading Scottish cultural magazines of the 1980s and 1990s.

Review :
This book is a major contribution to a central theatre of debate in Scottish studies, and has ramifications well beyond Hill Burton’s oeuvre or nineteenth-century Scotland more generally. ... There is so much to applaud here in a rich and cogently argued book, which leaves some influential lines of interpretation looking threadbare and exposed. Recovering Scottish History makes a compelling case for the necessity of reassessing John Hill Burton’s standing among nineteenth-century Scottish historians. Not merely a study of Romantic and Victorian thought, Beveridge’s engaging book invites us to consider the ways in which shifting trends in historiography impact on the present. Beveridge has written a compelling and important book, ingeniously and reflexively designed as a work of history about a landmark work of history. This is vital reading for anyone wishing to understand the permutations of national or, for that matter, unionist history in Scotland. Beveridge’s achievement in this volume is to be warmly commended. He has made a clear and convincing case for the critical study of [… Scottish] Victorian histories in much the same way as William Donaldson made the case for a new appraisal of popular literature in Scotland in the 1980s. It is up to historians and students to make good the promise that Beveridge highlights here and to make visible the contribution of historians to our national life – even if we still refuse to burnish them in gold. A valuable intervention in Scottish studies, Craig Beveridge’s study of the forgotten historian John Hill Burton makes a bold claim for reviving Burton’s reputation as a key player in nineteenth-century Scottish national identity formation, offering new contexts from which to positively assess his place in Scottish historical studies. Beveridge presents convincing evidence of Burton’s influence on a dynamic nineteenth-century Scottish national consciousness throughout the nine chapters of this zeitgeist book. … Beyond a fascinating biographical view of a lesser-known Scottish historian, this book offers an intriguing way forward for future research on the cultural and intellectual identity of nineteenth-century Scotland. impressive and important ... takes an overlooked historian and accords him a deserved place of honor in Scotland’s intellectual pantheon.