| Administrative History | James Hay Beattie [1768-1790]. Eldest son of Beattie. Named, with permission, after Beattie's patron James Hay, Earl of Erroll. His childhood is lovingly recorded in many letters, which show that Beattie was always a deeply involved parent, and in the memoir Beattie wrote shortly after James Hay's death. His childhood and adolescence were marred by his mother's mental illness, and her total disasppearance from his life when he was aged about eleven. He attended Aberdeen Grammar School, and then Marischal College from 1781 to 1786. He considered entering the church, but Beattie secured his appointment on 28 Spetember 1787 as his own assistant and successor. James Hay sometimes taught the Arts class, but was already ill with tubercolosis, of which he died on 19 November 1790. His father assembled a substantial volume of his prose and verse, printed in an edition of 200 copies for circulation among his friends in 1794, and subsequently published with Beattie's own poems in 1799 |
| Description | Letter from James Hay Beattie, Peterhead, Saturday evening at 10 o'clock, to James Beattie, Schoolhill, Aberdeen, relating to Dr Morgan's health; mentioning the Divine; asking if his father is going to Peterhead and mentioning the arrival of Miss Valentine and Montagu from Montrose. Letter talks about James Hay's activities in Peterhead, mentioning his good health, and talks about ?Tytler [possibly William Tytler (1711 – 1792), lawyer and historian or Alexander Fraser Tytler, Lord Woodhouselee (1747 – 1813), historian]. James Hay writes about an 'Unitarian Catechism' and mentions Priestly. Letter talks about Dr Dun's rheumatism and James Hay offers some solutions, and talks about how anxious James Hay is in seeing James Beattie.
MS 30/26/5 - 7 appear to have been written in the same week. Not all are dated, but references to the death of Dr Morgan place them in the year 1788. |