Case 9
- Dunedin doggerel
![A poem dedicated to the Mornington Fire Brigade, in: R.P. Hargreaves [ed.].. <em>The poetical works of George Scott, the Mornington bard.</em> Dunedin: Hocken Library, 1982.](https://www.reedgallery.co.nz/__data/assets/image/0019/511156/9a.jpg)
A poem dedicated to the Mornington Fire Brigade, in: R.P. Hargreaves [ed.].. The poetical works of George Scott, the Mornington bard. Dunedin: Hocken Library, 1982.
George Scott (1834-1888)
was known as the ‘Bard of Mornington’. He was born in Scotland and arrived as
an assisted immigrant in 1860. He was a gardener by profession but later
regarded himself as a poet. He was passionate about his poetry and managed to
upset the Mornington Borough Council by writing to them in verse. The Council
resolved at a subsequent meeting “that no letter in rhyme be received by this
Council.” His first ever published work was about, and dedicated to, the
Mornington Fire Brigade.
A poem dedicated to the Mornington Fire Brigade, in: R.P. Hargreaves [ed.].. The poetical works of George Scott, the Mornington bard. Dunedin: Hocken Library, 1982.
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Hamilton Thompson. Ballads about business & back-block life. Dunedin: Otago Daily Times & Witness Newspapers Company Ltd., 1909.
Hamilton Thompson, real
name Thomas Henry Thompson, was a Dunedin accountant and author of The New Zealand manual of accountancy and
commercial law, first published in 1903. Known as a matter-of-fact
businessman, Thompson revealed a considerably more humorous side in composing a
collection of quirky rhymes about the dredging boom time and rugged farm life,
entitled Ballads about business &
back-block life. Several poems (including ‘Luck’) are written in the broken
English of an old German friend of the author, whilst others are written in
Scottish dialect. He died in Dunedin in 1938 aged 70 years and is buried in
Dunedin’s Southern Cemetery
Hamilton Thompson. Ballads about business & back-block life. Dunedin: Otago Daily Times & Witness Newspapers Company Ltd., 1909.
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Hamilton Thompson. Ballads about business & back-block life. Dunedin: Otago Daily Times & Witness Newspapers Company Ltd., 1909.
The
illustrated cover of Hamilton Thompson’s Ballads
about business & back-block life.
Hamilton Thompson. Ballads about business & back-block life. Dunedin: Otago Daily Times & Witness Newspapers Company Ltd., 1909.
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![Olive Trotter. <em>Dunedin’s spiteful Socrates: James Gordon Stuart Grant.</em> [Dunedin: Olive Trotter, 2006]](https://www.reedgallery.co.nz/__data/assets/image/0004/511159/9d.jpg)
Olive Trotter. Dunedin’s spiteful Socrates: James Gordon Stuart Grant. [Dunedin: Olive Trotter, 2006]
James
Gordon Stuart Grant was a Dunedin journalist, pamphleteer and raconteur of
considerable notoriety. Born in Scotland, he arrived in Dunedin in 1855
expecting to be appointed first Rector of Otago Boys’ High School. When this
appointment did not eventuate he began the Dunedin Academy, but this failed.
Grant turned to the Otago Witness to
express his displeasure and in April 1856 a poem appeared, entitled: “To
Otagonians in general, and Dunedinites in particular, a doggerel adieu.” Despite
his threat to leave, Grant stayed in Dunedin until his death in 1902. He died
in poverty but the citizens of Dunedin had a “whip round” to provide him with a
decent burial.
Olive Trotter. Dunedin’s spiteful Socrates: James Gordon Stuart Grant. [Dunedin: Olive Trotter, 2006]
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