George Chalmers

George Chalmers, antiquary and political economist, was born at Fochabers in 1742; he studied under Thomas Reid at King's College Aberdeen and at Edinburgh University. Chalmers emigrated to Baltimore where he practiced law before he was led by Royalist principles to return to London in 1775. He was rewarded for his loyalty and writings on political economy with a position of clerk in the Board of Trade. George Chalmers, who traded ballads and antiquarian materials with Walter Scott, is not to be confused with his contemporary, Alexander Chalmers, who edited the British Poets. Three volumes of his Caledonia, a massive topographical and antiquarian work, had appeared at the time of his death.

TEXT RECORDS:

1799A Supplemental Apology for the Believers in the Shakspeare-Papers.

PUBLICATIONS:

A history of the united colonies. 1780.
Life of Daniel De Foe. 1785.
An estimate of the comparative strength of Great Britain during the present and four preceding reigns. 1786.
Historical tracts, by Sir John Davies [ed. Chalmers]. 1786.
Life of Thomas Ruddiman. 1794.
An apology for the believers in the Shakspear papers. 1797.
A supplemental apology for the believers in the Shakspear papers. 1799.
An appendix to the supplemental apology. 1800.
Poems of Allan Ramsay [ed. Chalmers]. 1800.
Caledonia. 3 vols, 1807, 1810, 1824.
A tract ... in answer to Malone's account of Shakspear's Tempest. 1815.
Life of Mary Queen of Scots. 2 vols, 1818.
The poetical remains of some of the Scottish kings. 1824.
Robene and Makyn, and the Testament of Cressid [Henryson, ed. Chalmers]. 1824.

PROFILE AND
ASSOCIATES:

Scottish
Presbyterian

Aberdeen University
Edinburgh University

clerk
lawyer
antiquary
essayist

Rev. William Beloe
Sir James Bland Burges
George Hardinge
Thomas Reid
Joseph Ritson
Sir Walter Scott
Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe
John Taylor Esq.
Rev. Henry John Todd

REFERENCE:

DNB; NCBEL; DLB.

Catalogue of five hundred Celebrated Authors (1788); David Rivers, Literary Memoirs of Living Authors (1798); John Nichols, Literary Anecdotes (1812-15); Biographical Dictionary of Living Authors (1816); Robert Watt, Bibliotheca Britannica (1824); obituary in Gentleman's Magazine 95 (December 1825) 564; obituary in New Monthly Magazine NS 18 (February 1826) 74-75; Robert Chambers, revised Thomson, Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Scotsmen (1832-35; 1870); The Georgian Era: Memoirs of the most Eminent Persons (1832-34) 3:560-61; Allan Cunningham, "Literature of the last Fifty Years" The Athenaeum No. 318 (30 November 1833) 814; Robert Chambers, Cyclopaedia of English Literature (1844); William Anderson, Scottish Nation (1859-63); Archibald Constable and his Literary Correspondents (1873); Moulton, Library of Literary Criticism (1901-05); G. A. Cockroft, The Public Life of Chalmers (1939).

COMMENTARY RECORDS
for George Chalmers:

1.	1790  Michael Lort to Thomas Percy, 15 June 1790; Nichols, Illustrations of the Literary History of the XVIII Century (1817-58) 7:511.
2.	1795  Joseph Ritson to Mr. Paton, 19 January 1795; Letters of Joseph Ritson (1833) 2:66-67.
3.	1797  George Steevens to Thomas Percy, 30 January 1797; Nichols, Illustrations of the Literary History of the XVIII Century (1817-58) 7:12.
4.	1798  Thomas James Mathias, in Pursuits of Literature (1798) 99-101 & n.
5.	1799  Anonymous, "Epigrams (continued) on the Heavy Supplemental Apology" Morning Chronicle (23 September 1799).
6.	1799  George Hardinge, "Chalmeriana. Epigram I" Morning Chronicle (5 September 1799).
7.	1807  William Beloe, in Anecdotes of Literature and Scarce Books 1 (1807) xiii-xiv.
8.	1808  Alexander Murray to Archibald Constable, 3 August 1808; Archibald Constable and his Literary Correspondents (1873) 1:278-79.
9.	1817  John Taylor Esq., "To George Chalmers, Esq. the Possessor of a Table and Wine-Glass which belonged to Thomson the Poet" Morning Post (24 March 1817).
10.	1818  Lord Byron to John Murray, 8 January 1818; Letters and Journals, ed. Rowland E. Prothero (1898-1901) 4:192.
11.	1821  W., "Lines written on a blank Leaf of Chalmers's Life of Mary Queen of Scots" The Monthly Magazine 52 (December 1821) 423.
12.	1824  Thomas Frognall Dibdin, in The Library Companion (1824) 272.
13.	1832  John Taylor Esq., in Records of my Life (1832) 1:188-90, 334-38.
14.	1833  Allan Cunningham, in "Biographical and Critical History of the Literature of the last Fifty Years" The Athenaeum (30 November 1833) 814.
15.	1852  William Jerdan, in Autobiography of William Jerdan (1852-53) 2:99-100.

BIOGRAPHY RECORDS
for George Chalmers:

1.	1798  David Rivers, in Literary Memoirs of Living Authors (1798) 1:95-96.
2.	1816  Anonymous, in Biographical Dictionary of Living Authors (1816) 60.
3.	1825  Anonymous, Obituary in Gentleman's Magazine 95 (December 1825) 564-65.
4.	1832  William Clarke and Robert Shelton Mackenzie, in The Georgian Era: Memoirs of the most eminent Persons who have flourished in Great Britain (1832-34) 3:560-61.
5.	1859  William Anderson, in Scottish Nation (1859-66) 1:620.

AUTHOR AS CRITIC:
(commentary records)

1.	1797  Sir George Buc:   George Chalmers, in Apology for the Believers in the Shakspeare-Papers (1797) 493-94.
2.	1799  Edmond Malone:   George Chalmers, in Supplemental Apology for the Believers in the Shakspeare-Papers (1799) 26n.
3.	1799  Thomas James Mathias:   George Chalmers, in Supplemental Apology for the Believers in the Shakspeare-Papers (1799) 511.
4.	1800  Alexander Pennecuik:   George Chalmers, in Life of Ramsay, Poetical Works (1800; 1877) 1:xli & n.
5.	1800 ca.  Allan Ramsay:   George Chalmers to Archibald Constable, 1800 ca.; in Archibald Constable and his Literary Correspondents (1873) 1:407.
6.	1803  Joseph Ritson:   George Chalmers to Archibald Constable, 27 October, 27 December 1803; Archibald Constable and his Literary Correspondents (1873) 1:410, 412.
7.	1806  Rev. Henry John Todd:   George Chalmers to Archibald Constable, 9 June 1806; Archibald Constable and his Literary Correspondents (1873) 1:422-23.
8.	1807  Sir James Bland Burges:   George Chalmers to James Bland Burges, 2 March 1807; Burges, Letters and Correspondence, ed. Hutton (1895) 316.
9.	1808  Rev. William Beloe:   George Chalmers to Archibald Constable, 22 January 1808; Archibald Constable and his Literary Correspondents (1873) 1:427.
10.	1811  Thomas Churchyard:   George Chalmers to Archibald Constable, 11 March 1816; in Archibald Constable and his Literary Correspondents (1873) 1:452.
11.	1817  Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe:   George Chalmers to Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe, 19 August 1817; Letters from and to Charles Kirkpatrick Sharp (1888) 2:155-57.

AUTHOR AS CRITIC:
(biography records)

1.	1800  Allan Ramsay:   George Chalmers, Life in Poems of Allan Ramsay (1800; 1877) 1:ix-xli.