Scottish writer (1912–1995)
Fred Urquhart or Frederick Burrows Urquhart (12 July 1912 – 2 December 1995) was a Scottish short story writer, novelist, editor and reviewer. He is considered Scotland's leading short story writer of the 20th-century. Writing in the "Manchester Evening News" in November 1944, George Orwell praised Urquhart's "remarkable gift for constructing neat stories with convincing dialogue."
Early life.
Urquhart was born in Edinburgh. His father was chauffeur to wealthy Scottish families, including the Marquess of Breadalbane at Taymouth Castle. He spent much of his childhood in Fife, Perthshire and Wigtownshire. He attended village schools, followed by Stranraer High School and Broughton Secondary School.
On leaving school at the age of fifteen, he worked in a bookshop from 1927 to 1934. Because he was a pacifist and conscientious objector, during World War II, he worked on the land at Laurencekirk in the Mearns and later at Woburn Abbey. On visits to London, where he later lived, he met George Orwell and the Scottish painters Robert Colquhoun and Robert MacBryde.
Career.
Writer.
In 1936, Urquhart published his first short story, followed by his first novel "Time Will Knit" in 1938. He went on to publish four novels and more eight volumes of short stories. The novel "Jezebel's Dust" (1951) is considered one of his best works. Many of his stories were read on the radio. "Palace of Green Days" was a Book at Bedtime in 1985.
Many of his stories revolved around rural life, set in the fictional town of Auchencairn in the Mearns countryside south of Aberdeen. The theme of many of these stories was a desire to escape the drudgery of every-day working-class life. One of these stories, "The Ploughing Match," won the Tom–Gallon Trust Award for 1951.
He also wrote many stories about violence against women and was known for the way he sensitively portrayed women. Compton Mackenzie said Urquhart had a "remarkable talent for depicting women young and old." "We Never Died in Winter" is considered a good example of one of his stories about working-class girls.
In the 1960s, he published several volumes of short stories with historical and supernatural themes. One obituarist said, "His skill was to show characters in everyday, conversational action".
Publishing.
Starting in 1947, Urquhart worked as a reader for a literary agency in London until 1951., From 1951 to 1954 he read scripts for Metro–Goldwyn–Mayer. From 1951 to 1974 he was a reader for Cassell and Company in London. He was a London scout for Walt Disney Productions from 1959 to 1960. From 1967 to 1971, he was a reader for J. M. Dent and Sons in London.
He had a particular love of horses and edited illustrated anthology "The Book of Horses" in 1981. He also edited a number of books and wrote reviews for magazines and newspapers.
Personal life.
Urquhart was homosexual. He moved to Ashdown Forest in East Sussex in 1958 with his companion, the dancer Peter Wyndham Allen, but when Wyndham Allen died in 1990 Urquhart moved back to Scotland. He was a friend of Rhys Davies, with whom he shared a cottage in Tring in 1946, and of Norah Hoult.
Urquhart died in Haddington, East Lothian at the age of 83.
References.
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