Galt, JOHN, Scotch novelist, was born at Irvine, in Ayrshire, May 2, 1779. His father, who was captain of a ship in the West Indian trade, left Ayrshire in 1789, and fixed his residence in Greenock. In that town Galt received his education, and was then placed in the custom-house. He remained there till 1804, when, panting for literary distinction, he proceeded to London with an epic poem on the battle of Largs in his portmanteau. On reaching the metropolis he printed his epic, but, becoming dissatisfied with its merits, ultimately withdrew it from the market. After a few years his health began to fail, and he was obliged to seek relief in a more genial climate. At Gibraltar he made the acquaintance of Lord Byron and his friend Hobhouse, and the three travellers became fellow-voyagers; but soon after Galt separated from his new friends to visit Sicily, then Malta, and finally Greece, where he again renewed his acquaintance with Byron, and had an interview with Ali Pasha. He next proceeded to Constantinople, and afterwards to the shores of the Black Sea. On one occasion when detained by quarantine he sketched six dramas which were afterwards given to the world. On his return he published with considerable success his Letters from the Levant, but first displayed distinct and individual power in The Ayrshire Legatees, which appeared in Blackwood's Magazine in 1820. Its successor, The Annals of the Parish (1821), met with unquestionable success, and remains his masterpiece. Having hit on the true vein he worked it assiduously, and produced in quick succession Sir Andrew Wylie, The Entail, The Steamboat, and The Provost. He then diverged into the walk of historical romance, and published Ringan Gilhaize, a tale of the Covenanters; The Spacwife, Rothelun, and The Omen. These works, although full of striking scenes and really good writing, were not so successful as his earlier and less ambitious performances. Galt, whose hands were always equally full of literary and commercial undertakings, was now busily engaged in the formation of the Canada Company; but before he left England for his distant scene of labour he gave to the world The Last of the Lairds.
He departed for Canada in 1826, but three years later returned to England a ruined man, and at once recommenced his literary labours with his usual rapidity. His first novel was Lawrie Todd, which was followed by Southerman, a romance of the days of Queen Mary; and this by a Life of Lord Byron, which ran through several editions, but which was roughly handled by the critics. In 1834 he published his Literary Life and Miscellanies in three volumes. He now returned to Scotland, utterly broken in health and spirits, and died at Greenock, 11th April 1839. While some of his productions are already forgotten, others will perish only with the language. A voluminous and unequal writer, he had rich humour, genuine pathos, and a rare mastery of the Scots dialect; in delineating the life of small Scottish towns and villages he was without a rival. See an edition of his works, with introduction by Crockett (1896); Mrs Oliphant's William Blackwood & Sons (1897); Sir G. Douglas, The Blackwood Group (1897).
Sir ALEXANDER TILLOCH GALT, his son, born at Chelsea, 6th September 1817, was elected to the Canadian parliament in 1849, and was finance minister in 1858-62 and 1864-66. In 1880-83 he was High Commissioner for Canada in Britain; and he served on the Washington Treaty and Halifax Fisheries Commissions. A G.C.M.G., he died 19th September 1893.