David Masson  Prof David Mather Masson  LLD DLitt (2 December 18226 October 1907), was a Scottish academic, supporter of women's suffrage, literary critic and historian. He was born in Aberdeen, the son of William Masson, a stone-cutter, and his wife Sarah Mather. David was educated at Aberdeen Grammar School under Dr. James Melvin and at Marischal College, University of Aberdeen. Intending to enter the Church, he proceeded to Edinburgh University, where he studied theology under Dr. Thomas Chalmers, with whom he remained friendly until the latter's death in 1847. However, abandoning his aspirations to the ministry, be returned to Aberdeen to undertake the editorship of the "Banner", a weekly paper devoted to the advocacy of Free Kirk principles. After two years he resigned this post and went back to Edinburgh to pursue a purely literary career. There he wrote a great deal, contributing to "Fraser's Magazine", "Dublin University Magazine" (in which appeared his essays on Thomas Chatterton) and other periodicals. In 1847 he went to London, where he found a wider scope for his energy and knowledge. He was a secretary of the "Society of the Friends of Italy" (1851–1852). In a famous interview with Elizabeth Barrett Browning at Florence, he contested her admiration for Napoleon III. He had known Thomas de Quincey, whose biography he contributed in 1878 to the "English Men of Letters" series, and he was an enthusiastic friend and admirer of Thomas Carlyle. In 1852 he was appointed a professor of English literature at University College, London, in succession to A H Clough, and for some years from 1858, he edited the newly established "Macmillan's Magazine". In 1865 he was selected for the chair of rhetoric and English literature at Edinburgh, and during the early years of his professorship actively promoted the movement for the university education of women. He also supported his wife Emily Rosaline Orme and two of their daughters in the women's suffrage movement, speaking at events in Edinburgh and London. In 1879 he became editor of the Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, and in 1886 gave the Rhind Lectures on that subject. In 1893 he was appointed Historiographer Royal for Scotland. Two years later he resigned his professorship. In 1896 he was President of the Edinburgh Sir Walter Scott Club and gave the Toast to Sir Walter at the club's annual dinner.