Donald MacKinnon (Celtic scholar)

Donald MacKinnon
Born	18 April 1839[1] Kilchattan, Colonsay, Argyll, Scotland[2]
Died	25 December 1914 (aged 75)[3] Balnahard, Colonsay, Argyll, Scotland[4]
Nationality	Scottish
Occupation	Professor of celtic
Known for	Celtic Studies
Spouse(s)	Catherine MacPhee MacKinnon (m. 1873) (1842–1917)
Children	5 Malcolm * Catherine (d. 1949) * Mary (d. 1960) * Neil (d. 1884) * Duncan (d. 1918) [5]

Donald MacKinnon (1839–1914), born on Colonsay, an island in the Scottish Inner Hebrides, was a Celtic scholar, the first elected Professor of Celtic languages, literature, history and antiquities at Edinburgh University, a chair he occupied from 1882^[6] to the year of his death in 1914.^[7] He is known particularly for his edition and translation of the so-called Glenmasan manuscript, and also catalogued the manuscripts in the Advocates Library collection.

Education

He enrolled in the local Sean Sgoil (The Old School),^[8] and at the age of eighteen, attended the Church of Scotland Training College. He was Clerk to the Church of Scotland's Educational Scheme (1869). Continuing his study at Edinburgh University he obtained the degree of M.A. in 1870. Later he became clerk and treasurer to the School Board of Edinburgh.

Writings

He began publishing essays in An Gaidheal (which ran from 1871 to 1877).^[9] Later he wrote his observations entitled "Place Names and Personal Names in Argyll", in the The Scotsman (Newspaper) Nov–Jan 1888, in eighteen serialised parts.
He edited, translated, and annotated the fifteenth century Glenmasan MS. (formerly Adv. Lib. MS. LIII, now National Library of Scotland (Adv.MS.72.2.3), an important codex containing a later romance version of the Deirdre story besides other material. A list of his works is given in the #Bibliography section.

Genealogy

Some recently published writings by Sheets^[10] and Ray^[11] indicate a resurgence of interest in the connection between the MacKinnons who migrated to Canada and the family of the professor in Scotland who was their kinsman.

Footnotes

1. Archives Hub 2010; citing The Gambolier, 25 November 1914, pp.64–66
2. Archives Hub 2010
3. Celtic Review 10, p.1 (Title page) "Since this number was printed we have learned.. of Professor Mackinnon's death, which occurred in the Isle of Colonsay on Christmas Day." see Maclean 1914.
4. Archives Hub 2010
5. Lamb 2011 webpage genealogy
6. "Chairs and Professors of Universities in the United Kingdom". Who's Who Year-book for 1908. p. 132.
7. Mackinnon & Mackinnon 1956, Preface, p.xvi. "He occupied the Celtic Chair for 32 years, retiring in June 1914 at the age of 75. On Christmas Day of the same year he died in his native island of Colonsay"
8. Ray 2005, p. 269
9. Scottish Gaelic Studies 23, p.127
10. Sheets 2000
11. Ray 2005

Bibliography

• Culture in Early Scotland, D. Mackinnon ed., Wiliams & Norgate, London, 1892.
• Mackinnon, Donald, Mackinnon, Lachlan, ed., Prose writings of Donald MacKinnon, 1839–1914: the first professor of Celtic in the University of Edinburgh (snippet), Scottish Gaelic Texts Society, 5, Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd
• MacKinnon, Donald. "The Glenmasan Manuscript", in The Celtic Review.
  • Mackinnon, Donald (1904-5), "The Glenmasan Manuscript" (Internet Archive), Celtic Review, 1: 12–17, 102–31, 208–29, 296–315 Check date values in: |date= (help) (ed. & tr.; cont. in subsequent volumes)
  • Mackinnon, Donald (1905-6), "The Glenmasan Manuscript" (Internet Archive), Celtic Review, 2: 20–33, 100–121, 202–23, 300–313 Check date values in: |date= (help)
  • Mackinnon, Donald (1906-7), "The Glenmasan Manuscript" (Internet Archive), Celtic Review, 3: 10–25, 114–37, 198–15, 294–317 Check date values in: |date= (help)
  • Mackinnon, Donald (1907-8), "The Glenmasan Manuscript" (Internet Archive), Celtic Review, 4: 10–27, 104–21, 202–19 Check date values in: |date= (help)
  • CELT Corpus (University College, Cork) Gaelic / English
• Mackinnon, Donald (1912), A Descriptive Catalogue of Gaelic Manuscripts in the Advocates' Library, Edinburgh, and elsewhere in Scotland (Internet Archive), Edinburgh: W. Brown
• On the dialects of Scottish Gaelic (1886)*
• Mackinnon, Donald (1889), Reading book for the use of students of the Gaelic class at Edinburgh University (google)
• News Cuttings (1889) Internet Archive (incomplete collection of his serialised articles)

References

• Maclean, Donald (1914), "Donald Mackinnon, M.A., Emeritus-Professor of Celtic, University of Edinburgh" (IArchive), The Celtic Review, 10 (37): 63–68 CELT Corpus
• Lamont, Donald, Rev. (1915), "Professor Mackinnon" (IArchive), Celtic Review, 10: 97–105 (w/ photograph of his portrait)
• John W. Sheets, "National Culture of Mobility: The Colonsay-Canada Connection" in Kaufman, Will; Macpherson, Heidi Slettedahl (2000), Transatlantic Studies, University Press of America, ISBN 0-7618-1790-5 Missing or empty |title= (help), excerpted at The Corncrake Archives 24, "The Colonsay-Canada Connection, Part 3".
• Archives Hub (2010). "Colonsay Graveyard" (pdf). Retrieved 12 February 2012.
  • The Gambolier, 25 November 1914, pp. 64–66 (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University) [cited by Archives Hub as biographical authority]
• Lamb, Joanne (2011), Dalrymple Crescent: a snapshot of Victiorian Edinburgh, T & J Lamb, ISBN 978-0956671301;
  • Lamb, Joanne (2011), Family Group Sheet for Donald Mackinnon/Catherine Macphee (F148) m. 3 Nov 1873 : Dalrymple Crescent Families, Darrin Lythgoe, retrieved 12 February 2012 @ author's page
• Ray, R. Celeste (2005), Transatlantic Scots (preview), University of Alabama Press, pp. 269–, ISBN 9780817352400
• Mackinnon, Donald (1882), Testimonials in favour of Donald Mackinnon ... candidate for the chair of Celtic languages ... in the University of Edinburgh (google)

External links

• Collection of Professor Donald Mackinnon (1839–1914) (Archives hub at the center of great research)