Scottish national biography

More than 6000 were born or lived in Scotland, or left their mark on aspects of Scottish life—from politics to sport, industry to the arts.
Three volumes containing biographies and some engraved portraits of Scotsmen and some women, mostly of the 16th to the 19th centuries.
Scottish Bibliographies Online is a database with records of books, periodicals and major articles of Scottish interest published worldwide.

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Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/James IV of Scotland

JAMES IV (1473–1513), king of Scotland, eldest son of James III [q. v.] and Margaret, daughter of Christian I of Denmark, was born on 17 March 1473. His betrothal at Edinburgh on 18 Oct. 1474 to the Princess Cecilia [q. v.], third daughter of Edward IV, and a proposal in 1487 for his marriage to a sister-in-law of Henry VII, both came to nothing. The prince was placed at the head of the rebels at Sauchieburn, where his father was killed (11 June 1488). He was crowned at Scone in the last week of June. A chaplain at Cambuskenneth was paid to say masses for his father's soul. James performed the somewhat ostentatious penance of wearing an iron belt, if we may credit his portraits, outside his doublet, and never forgave himself for his father's death. The leaders of what could no longer be called a rebellion succeeded to the great offices of state. The Earl of Argyll became again chancellor; Alexander, master of Home [q. v.], replaced David, earl of Crawford [q. v.], as chamberlain; Knollis, preceptor of Tor

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Scottish Borders Lives

The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography is the national record of people who’ve shaped British history, worldwide, from the Romans to the 21st century. The ODNB currently includes the life stories of over 60,000 men and women who died in or before 2016.

Of these 60,000 people, over 650 have close ties to the Scottish Borders—through families, education, work or residence. This includes 322 men & women with links to Berwickshire and a further 270 associated with Roxburghshire.

Here you’ll find some famous (and perhaps less–well–known) Borders faces, including the author Sir Walter Scott (above), and (below) the piper & VC recipient,Daniel Laidlaw, plus racing driver Jim Clark.

Click on the images below to read more.

Who and how? in the Scottish Borders

As well as looking for people by name, you can also search by place, for example:

(NB: You'll need to be logged into your library's subscription for these searches.)

How do I search?

The Oxford DNB includes the life stories of more than 60,000 men and women. Online

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Scots and Scotland in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (www.oxforddnb.com) tells the life stories of more than 60,000 men and women who have shaped British history worldwide. Of these, more than 6000 were born or lived in Scotland, or left their mark on aspects of Scottish life—from politics to sport, industry to the arts.

In October 2009 the Oxford DNB further extended its Scottish coverage with a set of new biographies (including Christian Fletcher and Jean Armour)—together with a feature on the ‘Faces of Scotland’ highlighting major figures from Scotland’s past.

Together these subjects span 1500 years of Scottish history, beginning with the sixth-century St Moluag (said to have arrived on Lismore on a stone ‘like no other’) and concluding with close contemporaries such as actor and comedian Rikki Fulton (1924–2004) and politician Robin Cook (1946-2005).

The Oxford DNB is a subscriber service and the following searches require subscriber access through a public or university library - find out how to subscribe.

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