Fred Urquhart Correspondence

Correspondence with Scottish Authors

The Urquhart Papers include correspondence with the following important Scottish writers.

George Mackay Brown

• 18 letters, 1979-84 (MS 2832)

G. S. Fraser

• Letter (on Fraser's behalf), 29 August 1943 (MS 2805)

Edward Gaitens

• Letter, 21 September 1943 (MS 2805)

Neil M. Gunn

• Letter congratulating Urquhart on his novel Time Will Knit, 1 September 1938 (MS 2834)
  

Margaret Hamilton

• 2 letters, 27 August and 5 November 1943 (MS 2805)
• 2 letters, 10 and 13 June 1947 (MS 2837)
• 14 letters, 21 January-19 August 1972 (MS 2832)

Dorothy K. Haynes

• 42 letters and 1 postcard, 1944-47 (MS 2833)
• Letter, 12 June 1947 (MS 2837)

J. F. Hendry

• Letter, 25 August 1943 (MS 2805)
• Letter, 15 October 1951 (MS 2837)
• 3 letters, 1951-52 (MS 2834)

Robert Kemp

• Letter, 26 November 1943 (MS 2805)
• 5 letters (as BBC producer), 1943-45 (MS 2837)

Maurice Lindsay

Fred Urquhart and Maurice Lindsay co-edited the anthologies Scottish Signposts (1943-1946, unpublished) and No Celtic Twilight (1947). They resumed contact in 1976 when Lindsay invited Urquhart to become fiction reviewer for the Scottish Review.

• 3 letters about Scottish Signposts, 1943-44 (MS 2805)
• 15 letters about Scottish Signposts, 1943-46 (MS 2838)
• 54 letters about the Scottish Review, 1976-85 (with copies of 66 letters from Urquhart to Lindsay) (MS 2838)

Joseph Macleod (Adam Drinan)

• 3 letters, 13 October 1943 and 2 undated (MS 2805)
• Letter to Urquhart [1943?] (MS 2832)

Norah and William Montgomerie

• 2 letters from Norah Montgomerie, 3 and 27 December 1943 (MS 2805)
• 5 letters from William Montgomerie , 1943-44 (MS 2805)
• Letter from William Montgomerie, 4 June 1947 (MS 2837)
• 4 letters from Norah Montgomerie, 1961-80 (MS 2832)
• 2 letters from William Montgomerie, 11 August 1979 and 12 March 1980 (MS 2832)
• 2 letters from Norah and William Montgomerie, 10 September 1968 and 13 March 1980 (MS 2832)
• Christmas card from Norah and William Montgomerie, 1979 (MS 2832)

Hugh C. Rae

• Letter, 18 August 1975 (MS 2834)

Alexander Reid

• 54 letters and 1 postcard, 1938-63 (MS 2833)
• 3 letters, 1, 16 September, and 4 October 1943 (MS 2805)

J. M. Reid

• 3 letters, 15, 18 November, and 16 December 1961 (MS 2836)

R. Crombie Saunders

• Letter, 5 September 1943 (MS 2805)
• 2 letters, 21 July 1943 and 22 March 1944 (MS 2837)

Alexander Scott

• Letter from Scott to Urquhart, 31 July 1984, and copy of Urquhart's reply, 18 September 1984 (MS 2838)

George Scott-Moncrieff

• 14 letters and 3 postcards, 1939-43 (MS 2832)
• 2 letters, 19 August 1943 and undated (MS 2805)
• Letter, undated (MS 2833)

Scottish International

• Letter from Robert Tait, editor of Scottish International, 23 October 1972 (MS 2836)

Iain Crichton Smith

• Letter, [July 1968] (MS 2832)

William Soutar

• Letter, 10 September 1943 (MS 2805)

Rachel Annand Taylor

• Letter, September 1943 (MS 2805)

Douglas Young

• Letter, 3 November 1943 (MS 2805)

Note

All correspondence at MS 2805 is related to the anthology Scottish Signposts. In additions to the writers mentioned above, there is correspondence regarding submissions from Jean Allan, Denys Val Baker, Kate Y. A. Bone, Colin Brogan, Archie Campbell, Allan S. Casley, Ann Chadwick, George Robert (Bertie) Deyell, George Dickson, Drummond Flight, Alex Galloway, Tom Henderson, Morley Jamieson, Peter A. Jamieson, Charles McCorry, Robert Melville, Julian Orde, Janet Roberts, Edward W. Robertson, Jean Ross, John Singer, Cecile Walton, Katharine M. Wilson, and Norman Wilson.

Other Correspondence

There are also four boxes of letters exchanged between Fred Urquhart and his parents, 1936-65 (MS 2828-MS 2831), along with letters from many other friends and associates (MS 2832-MS 2834, MS 2838). There are particularly extensive collections of letters from J. R. Ackerley (MS 2834), Jean Allan (MS 2833), James Barlow (MS 2832), Rhys Davies (MS 2834), Norah Hoult (MS 2832), John Lehmann (MS 2834), Reginald Moore (MS 2834), John Pudney (MS 2833), James Turner (MS 2833), and Denys Val Baker (MS 2838). At MS 2837 there are also letters from Urquhart's early literary hero H. E. Bates. Finally MS 2835-MS 2839 contain extensive correspondence with publishers, literary agents, and periodicals. For a fuller listing, see Handlist H49.