13 Facts About James Macpherson

James Macpherson was a Scottish writer, poet, literary collector, and politician.

James Macpherson is known for the Ossian cycle of epic poems, which he claimed to have discovered and translated from Gaelic.

James Macpherson showed him manuscripts of Gaelic poetry, supposed to have been picked up in the Scottish Highlands and the Western Isles; one was called The Death of Oscar.

In 1760, James Macpherson visited North Uist and met with John MacCodrum, the official Bard to the Chief of Clan MacDonald of Sleat.

Hugh Blair, who was a firm believer in the authenticity of the poems, raised a subscription to allow James Macpherson to pursue his Gaelic researches.

Allegedly, James Macpherson obtained manuscripts which he translated with the assistance of a Captain Morrison and the Rev Gallie.

In 1764 James Macpherson was made secretary to the colonial governor George Johnstone at Pensacola, Florida.

James Macpherson returned to Great Britain two years later, and, despite a quarrel with Johnstone, was allowed to retain his salary as a pension.

James Macpherson enjoyed a salary for defending the policy of Lord North's government, and held the lucrative post of London agent to the Nawab of Arcot.

James Macpherson entered parliament in 1780, as Member of Parliament for Camelford and continued to sit for the remainder of his life.

James Macpherson's remains were carried from Scotland and interred in Westminster Abbey.

Every place James Macpherson acquired was cleared, and he had a craze for changing and obliterating the old names.

Fraser-Mackintosh then asserts that James Macpherson bought the right to be buried in Westminster Abbey.