| Description | This shorter draft (untitled and apparently earlier than MS 3788/5/1) is six stanzas long and omits stanzas five, seven and nine of the published version. Stanza 4 includes the word 'airse', absent in the published version, and stanza 2 includes the word 'damn', also absent in the published version. In both drafts there are numerous line variations from the published version, further details of which are given in MS 3788/11.
'J.F.T' was published in the proceedings of the 'Sit Siccar Society' and then in 'The Last Things'(1969). It was inspired by the presentation of Dr James Fowler Tocher's portrait in the 'Sit Siccar Society', of which Murray was a member. Tocher, an Alford schoolfriend of Murray's, was a geneticist and lecturer in statistics at Aberdeen University. |