James Traill Calder

{{short description|Scottish local historian}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}} '''James Traill Calder''' (1794–1864)<ref name="ODNB">{{cite ODNB|id=4367|title=Calder, James Traill|first=H. C. G.|last=Matthew}}</ref> was a Scottish local historian who was the writer of a ''History of Caithness''.

==Life== Born in Castletown, Caithness, Calder studied at the University of Edinburgh. After working as a private tutor for the Rev. Mr. Gunn at Caithness, Calder became the parish teacher at Canisbay.

Calder died at Elwick Bank, Shapinsay, Orkney, on 15 January 1864.<ref name="DNB">{{cite DNB|wstitle=Calder, James Tait|volume=8}}</ref>

==Works== [[File:Castle Sinclair Girnigoe Calder.jpg|thumb|Castle Sinclair Girnigoe, illustration from ''Sketch of the Civil and Traditional History of Caithness from the Tenth Century'' (1861) by James Traill Calder]]

Calder's major work, ''Sketch of the Civil and Traditional History of Caithness from the Tenth Century'', was published in 1861.<ref>{{cite book|author=James T[raill] Calder|title=Sketch of the Civil and Traditional History of Caithness, from the Tenth Century|url=https://archive.org/details/sketchofciviltra00cald/page/n10/mode/1up|location=Glasgow|publisher=Thomas Murray and Son; Edinburgh: Paton and Ritchie; Golspie: William Begg; Wick: Reid and Rae; Thurso: Miss Russell; London: Arthur Hall, Virtue and Co.|year=1861|oclc=10348125}}</ref> According to the ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', it "remains a standard work".<ref name="ODNB"/>

In 1842 Calder published at Wick ''Sketches from John o' Groat's in Prose and Verse'', which contained a chapter on "Ancient Superstitions and Customs in Caithness". In 1846, he published a volume of poems, ''The Soldier's Bride''.<ref name="DNB"/>

==Notes== {{reflist}}

'''Attribution'''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Calder, James Traill}} Category:1794 births Category:1864 deaths Category:Scottish antiquarians Category:People from Caithness