Henry Whyte (Fionn)

Unattributed portrait included in ‘The Celtic Garland’ (Glasgow: Maclaren, 1920; 3rd edition).

Henry Whyte | Eanraig MacIlleBhàin (1852, Easdale – 28 December 1913), often publishing under the name ‘Fionn,’ was born and raised in Argyll and later moved to Glasgow where he spent most of his life. A prolific author, poet, journalist, editor, and translator working between Gaelic and English, he was deeply involved in the land agitation and crofters’ rights movement. To Erskine’s magazines, he contributed mostly essays and prose. His life and work was the subject of two articles in Guth na Bliadhna, one by Angus Robertson (Volume X, Issue 1: Winter 1913) and an editorial obituary (Volume XI, Issue 1: Spring 1914). The author and translator Katherine Whyte Grant | Catrìona NicIlleBhàin Ghrannd, who also contributed to Erskine’s periodicals, was his cousin.

Publications in Erskine’s Periodicals

Guth na Bliadhna

  • ‘An t-Ollamh Mac Bheathainn nach Maireann’ [obituary & poem, GD], Volume IV, Issue 2 (Spring 1907)
  • ‘Some Gaelic Songs: Their Origin and History’ [letter to the editors], Volume IV, Issue 2 (Spring 1907)
  • ‘Mar a Dh’èirich Cuid de na Sean-fhocail [I]’ [essay, GD], Volume IV, Issue 3 (Summer 1907)
  •  ‘Mar a Dh’èirich Cuid de na Sean-fhocail [II]’ [essay, GD], Volume IV, Issue 4 (Autumn 1907)
  • ‘Guth na Bliadhna (The Voice of the Year): Being Notes on the Gaelic Calendar’ [essay, ENG], Volume V, Issue 2 (Spring 1908)
  • ‘Guth na Bliadhna (The Voice of the Year): Being Notes on the Gaelic Calendar II’ [essay, ENG], Volume V, Issue 3 (Summer 1908)

Alba I

  • ‘Mar a Dh’èirich Cuid de na Sean-Fhocail’ [essay, GD], Saturday, 9 May 1908
  • ‘Taigh Lachainn Fhaoin’ [prose, GD], Saturday, 11 July 1908
  • ‘Taigh Lachhainn Fhaoin’ [prose, GD], Saturday, 18 July 1908
  • ‘Seumas Cùbair’ [dialogue, GD], Saturday, 1 August 1908
  • ‘Dòmhnull nam Prat’ [prose, GD], Saturday, 22 August 1908
  • ‘Dòmhnull-nam-Prat air a’ Challdachd’ [prose, GD], Saturday, 12 September 1908
  • ‘Oighreachd nan Gàidheal’ [lecture delivered at the Mòd in Rothesay, GD], Saturday, 26 September 1908
  • ‘Para na h-Eaglais ’s na Banntraichean [I]’, Saturday, 3 October 1908
  • ‘Para na h-Eaglais ’s na Banntraichean [II]’, Saturday, 10 October 1908
  • ‘Para na h-Eaglais ’s na Banntraichean [III]’, Saturday, 17 October 1908
  • ‘Ruairidh Beag Shabhairidh’ [song with commentary, GD], Saturday, 9 January 1909

An Sgeulaiche

  • ‘An Gaidsear Ruadh ’s Am Buidheal’ [prose, GD], Volume I, Issue 1 (September 1909)
  • ‘Sgeulachd Choinnich Oig’ [prose, GD], Volume I, Issue 4 (December 1909)
  • ‘Rìgh Soirbheas’ [prose, GD], Volume II, Issue 3 (Autumn 1910)
  • ‘Mar a Dh’èirich Cuid de na Sean-fhocail’ [essay, GD], Volume III, Issue 2 (Summer 1911)

Resources