CHARLES MACKAY Biography - People in the News and Media

 
 

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CHARLES MACKAY

Name: Charles Mackay                                                                 
Born: 27 march 1814                                                                   
Died: 24 December 1889                                                               
                                                                                     
Charles Mackay (1814 March 27 - 1889 December 24) was a Scottish poet,               
journalist, and song writer.                                                         
                                                                                     
He was born in Perth, Scotland. His mother died shortly after his birth and his       
father was by turns a naval officer and a foot soldier. He was educated at the       
Royal Caledonian Asylum, London, and at Brussels, but spent much of his early         
life in France. Coming to London in 1834, he engaged in journalism, working for       
the Morning Chronicle from 1835 - 1844 and then became Editor of The Glasgow         
Argus. He moved to the Illustrated London News in 1848 becoming Editor in 1852.       
                                                                                     
He published Songs and Poems (1834), wrote a History of London, Extraordinary         
Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds (1841), and a romance, Longbeard. He     
is also remembered for his Dictionary of Lowland Scotch. During his lifetime,         
his fame chiefly rested upon his songs, some of which, including Cheer, Boys,         
Cheer, were in 1846 set to music by Henry Russell, and had an astonishing             
popularity.                                                                           
                                                                                     
Mackay acted as Times correspondent during the American Civil War, and in that       
capacity discovered and disclosed the Fenian conspiracy. He had the degree of LL.D.   
from the University of Glasgow in 1846. He was a member of the Percy Society. He     
died in London.                                                                       
                                                                                     
His daughter became known as the novelist Marie Corelli.                             
                                                                                     
This article incorporates public domain text from: Cousin, John William (1910).       
A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature. London, J.M. Dent & sons;     
New York, E.P. Dutton.