Galloway Bygones

“Galloway Bygones,” first published in The Leisure Hour in June 1894, is one of S.R. Crockett’s most revealing non-fiction pieces — an essay written in his own voice, about his own ground, at the precise moment of his literary breakthrough following the publication of The Raiders and The Stickit Minister. Originally delivered as an address to the Edinburgh University Dumfries and Galloway Association, it was subsequently reworked as a chapter in Raiderland (1904), a trajectory that signals its foundational importance to Crockett’s writing.

This close reading examines the essay as an exercise in double-addressing, Scots humour, and regional literary authority. It explores Crockett’s critique of Walter Scott’s representation of Galloway, his command of Scots dialect and vernacular culture, and his implicit argument for the kind of deeply grounded, authentic regional fiction he was himself producing. The essay is also examined as evidence against the “Kailyard” label later applied to Crockett’s work.

A copy is held in the S.R. Crockett Online Museum Library.

An article from the Reading Room of the S.R. Crockett Online Museum.