Lillian de la Torre
Full name
Lillian de la Torre
First name
Lillian
Last name
de la Torre
Died September 13, 1993
Biography
De la Torre was born in Manhattan in 1902. She received her associate's degree from the College of New Rochelle, before going to study 18th Century Studies at Columbia University and Radcliffe College (now a part of Harvard), from where she earned master's degrees.
Her first novel was Elizabeth Is Missing, or Truth Triumphant, published by Knopf in 1945. Her most popular works were the Dr. Sam: Johnson, Detector series of 33 detective stories that cast Samuel Johnson and James Boswell into Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson roles. This series, which de la Torre began in 1943 with The Great Seal of England, is one of the earliest examples of the historical mystery, a literary genre which combines historical fiction and the whodunit/detective story. She also wrote numerous books, short stories for Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, reviews for The New York Times Book Review, poetry and plays. In 1955, she was nominated for an Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime for The Truth about Belle Gunness (1955).
De la Torre served as President of the Mystery Writers of America in 1979, and in 1980 she received the Medal of Distinction in the Fine Arts from the Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce.
She died in 1993 at the age of 91. She was predeceased by her husband George McCue.
Dr. Sam: Johnson, Detector
Long title
Dr. Sam: Johnson, Detector - Narrated as From the Pen of James Boswell
Year of 1st publication
1948
Literature
Hugh M. Milne
Full name
Hugh M. Milne
First name
Hugh
Last name
Milne
Biography
Milne studied Law at the University of Edinburgh, and afterwards worked as a solicitor in Scotland from 1977 to 2007. At the time of his retirement in 2011, he worked as a Strategic Leader in the Large Business Service of HM Revenue & Customs.
Boswellian impact
Milne is known for his research into Boswell's Edinburgh journals as well as for his thoroughly annotated editions of Boswell's legal papers, published in two volumes (2013 and 2016) by The Stair Society.
Andrew Gibb - Overseer at Auchinleck
Name
Andrew Gibb
First name
Andrew
Last name
Gibb
Died 1839
Gender
0
Biography
Gibb took over as Overseer at Auchinleck House after James Bruce who died in August 1790. Gibb held the position for 46 years, serving three successive lairds. He was married to Agnes Howie (1784?-1867), with whom he had at least three children.
John Macqueen - Minister of Applecross
Name
John Macqueen
First name
John
Last name
Macqueen
Died July 30, 1831
Gender
0
Biography
Minister of Applecross. Son of the Donald Macqueen, Minister of Kilmuir. Married (1781) to Jane Macrae, daughter of Farquhar Macrae of Inverinate, with whom he had several children.
John Macqueen was educated at King's College, Aberdeen. He was ordained Minister of Applecross, a peninsula on the Scottish mainland opposite Skye and Raasay, on August 13, 1777.
Life with Boswell
Boswell and Dr Johnson met Macqueen at Raasay on September 8, 1773. They had been accompanied to the island by his father, Donald Macqueen, earlier that same day.
Alexander MacLeod - 2nd of Muiravonside
Name
Alexander MacLeod
First name
Alexander
Last name
MacLeod
Died 1784
Gender
0
Alias
Sandie Macleod
2nd of Muiravonside
MacCruslick
Biography
Advocate. Son of John Macleod, 1st of Muiravonside, and Elizabeth Straiton. Married to a daughter of William Montgomerie of Macbeth Hill, but died without issue.
MacLeod was an aide-de-camp to Price Charles Edward Stuart in the Jacobite rebellion of 1745. He afterwards spent 18 years in exile, and only in 1778 he received a free pardon.
Life with Boswell
Boswell and Dr Johnson met Sandie Macleod, as he was known, at Raasay on September 8, 1773.
According to Boswell, "Sandie MacLeod, who has at times an excessive flow of spirits, was, in his days of absconding, known by the name of MacCruslick, which it seems was the designation of a kind of wild man in the Highlands, and so he was called here. He made much jovial noise, but was too violent for my nerves, though they are now pretty well stiffened. Mr Johnson was so delighted with this scene that he said, “I know not how we shall get away.”
On September 9, in the afternoon, Boswell and MacLeod "went out with guns to try if [they] could find any black cock", but without success. They did, however, encounter a heavy rain, becoming a good deal wet.
Col. John MacLeod of Talisker
Name
John MacLeod
First name
John
Last name
MacLeod
Died 1798
Gender
0
Alias
4th of Talisker
Biography
Son of Donald Macleod, 3rd of Talisker, and Christiana, daughter of John Macleod of Contullich. Married twice, firstly to Florence Maclean, a daughter of Hector Macleon of Coll, and secondly to Christian Mackay, daughter of John Mackay of Inverness. He died in 1800 without surviving issue, and he was succeeded as representative of the family by his brother, Magnus. Another brother was Roderick Macleod, sometime principal of King's College in Aberdeen.
John Macleod was brought up in the medical profession, but in 1745 joined one of the Independent Companies raised in that year by his Chief, Norman Macleod, 19th of Macleod. It was he who, in the following year, arrested Flora Macdonald for the noble part she had taken in securing the escape of Prince Charles from the Western Isles, after the battle of Culloden.1
- 1Cf. Alexander Mackenzie's History of the Macleods (1889), p. 234
Life with Boswell
Boswell and Dr Johnson met Col. Macleod at Raasay on September 8, 1773. They had met his brother, Professor Roderick Macleod, in Aberdeen a few weeks earlier.
Charles Mackinnon - 18th of Mackinnon
Name
Charles Mackinnon
First name
Charles
Last name
Mackinnon
Died 1796
Place of death
at Dalkeith
Gender
0
Alias
18th of Mackinnon
Biography
18th Laird of Mackinnon. Son of John Dhu Mackinnon of Mackinnon (d. 1755) and Janet Macleod, a daughter of John Macleod, 10th of Raasay. Married to Alexandra Macleod, with whom he had three children.
In the 1780s, he wrote three Observations on the Wealth and Force of Nations, and in 1785 he published essays on the authenticity of Ossian, musical accompaniment, fortifications and the existence of the body.1
Mackinnon inherited the peninsula of Strathaird on Skye and Mishnish on Mull, but he was in financial difficulties for most of his life and sold off both, well before dying divorced, destitute and by his own hand in Dalkeith in early 1796.2
- 1Cf. To the Hebrides, footnote 343.
- 2https://electricscotland.com/history/inverness/chapter14.htm
Life with Boswell
Boswell and Dr Johnson met young Mackinnon upon their arrival on Raasay on September 8, 1773. Boswell described him as "a young man of small size, delicate constitution, feebleness of voice and nearness of sight, but I was told had great knowledge, and hurt himself by too much study, particularly of infidel metaphysicians." Following a conversation with Mackinnon on September 9, Boswell told Dr Johnson, that "[Mackinnon] had studied himself into infidelity", to which Johnson replied that "he must study himself out of it again. [...] Drinking largely would sober him again."
Dr. Murdoch MacLeod of Eyre
Name
Murdoch MacLeod
First name
Murdoch
Last name
MacLeod
Gender
0
Biography
Physician. Son of Malcolm Macleod (1695-1761), 10th of Raasay, and Mary Mackenzie, a daughter of Alexander Mackenzie of Applecross. Brother of John MacLeod, 11th of Raasay. Married to Anne Macdonald, a daughter of Alexander Macdonald of Boisdale, with whom he had several children.
He fought on the Jacobite side during the uprising in 1745-46 together with his father, and his cousin Malcolm Macleod.
Life with Boswell
Boswell and Dr Johnson met Dr MacLeod on Raasay after their arrival on that island on September 8, 1773. Boswell described him as a "sensible, civil man, [who] I am told has good skill." Boswell further wrote that Macleod had had bad health for some years and had given over his practice.
In the afternoon of September 12, 1773, and back on Skye, Johnson and Boswell rode from Portree to Macleod's house at Eyre, where they had a comfortable dish of tea and met the Doctor's wife and brother. After this, the Doctor rode with them a mile further on to the house of Allan MacDonald, tacksman of Kingsburgh, and his wife, the celebrated Flora MacDonald.