Nigel Tranter facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Nigel Tranter
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| Born | 23 November 1909 |
| Died | 9 January 2000 (aged 90) |
| Pen name | Nye Tredgold |
| Occupation | writer |
| Nationality | Scottish |
| Period | 1935 – 2007 (published posthumously) |
| Genre | Historical fiction Adventure Westerns Children's |
| Subject | Scottish history Architecture Travel (Scotland) |
Nigel Tranter (born November 23, 1909 – died January 9, 2000) was a Scottish author. He wrote many books about castles, focusing on how they were built and their history. He was also famous for his detailed historical novels. These stories covered hundreds of years of Scottish history. He was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his contributions to literature.
Contents
Nigel's Early Life
Nigel Tranter was born in Glasgow, Scotland. He went to school at George Heriot's School in Edinburgh. After school, he trained to be an accountant. He worked for an insurance company that his uncle started.
In 1933, he married May Jean Campbell Grieve. They had two children, Frances May and Philip. During the Second World War, Nigel joined the Royal Artillery. He served in East Anglia, England.
How Nigel Started Writing
From a young age, Nigel loved castles and their stories. When he was 25, in 1935, he published his first book. It was called The Fortalices and Early Mansions of Southern Scotland. This book was about small castles.
His wife encouraged him to write novels. His first novel, In Our Arms Our Fortune, was not accepted by publishers. But his next book, Trespass, was published in 1937. Sadly, the publisher went out of business, so he didn't get paid for it.
Over the next few years, he wrote more novels. These were fun adventure stories with a bit of romance. They were set in different places, from modern Europe to historical Scotland. Nigel also wrote westerns to earn more money for his family. He used the pen name Nye Tredgold for these books. He also wrote twelve adventure books for children aged 8 to 10.
Even during the war, Nigel kept writing. Some of his novels from that time were inspired by his own experiences.
Books About Castles
Between 1962 and 1971, Nigel published a very important series of books. It was called The Fortified House in Scotland. This series had five volumes. It aimed to cover the history and structure of every main castle in Scotland. That's 663 buildings! It also included some other old buildings. These books are still highly respected by people interested in castles.
While researching castles, Nigel found many interesting people and events in Scottish history. He used these as ideas for his novels. He tried to make his historical novels as accurate as possible. He also showed his strong Scottish pride in his stories.
His first historical novel focusing on a real person was The Queen's Grace (1953). This book was about Mary, Queen of Scots. It had a lot of made-up parts. Later, he wrote two series of three books each: the MacGregor Trilogy (1957–1962) and the Master of Gray Trilogy (1961–1965).
As he wrote more, his novels became more historically accurate. His later books were almost entirely based on historical facts. These novels helped many readers learn about Scottish history in an exciting way.
Nigel as a Historian
Nigel always loved Scottish castles. At first, he was interested in how they were built. But soon, he became interested in Scottish history in general. As he wrote historical novels, he researched more and more. He gathered a huge amount of knowledge about Scotland's past.
He was great at telling history like a story. This made it easy for many people to learn. Besides his novels, he also wrote non-fiction books like The Story of Scotland. Nigel had his own ideas about history, some of which were different from what most historians believed. He shared these ideas in his books.
For example, he believed that the stone under the Coronation Chair is not the real Stone of Destiny. He thought it was a fake from the 13th century. He called it the Westminster Stone.
Public Life and Contributions
Nigel Tranter was involved in many things besides writing. From the 1940s, he gave talks to groups and organizations. As he became more famous, he gave many speeches, even touring the USA.
He was also asked to join or help start many committees and community groups. These groups worked on different topics. Some focused on roads and settlements in the Scottish Highlands. Others were about wild birds or raising money for Athelstaneford's Flag Fund.
Some of his important involvements included:
- The original Scottish Convention: A group in the 1940s that pushed for more self-governance for Scotland. Nigel was the chairman in Edinburgh.
- National Covenant Association
- National Forth Road Bridge Committee
- Saltire Society: He was an honorary president of this society, which promotes Scottish culture.
After his book The Fortified House in Scotland came out, people often asked Nigel for advice. They wanted help restoring old tower houses and castles. He was closely involved in restoring over 60 castles, like Fa'side Castle and Menstrie Castle.
Later Life and Legacy
Nigel Tranter passed away on January 9, 2000, at the age of 90. He died in Gullane after getting the flu. His funeral and burial took place there.
Eight more of his novels were published after his death. The last book, Hope Endures, came out in 2005. His daughter said that he had finished all these books before he died. He always liked to be ahead in his writing.
Nigel's Books
Nigel Tranter wrote many different kinds of books. Here are some of them:
Historical Novels
For a full list of his historical novels, you can look at these pages:
- Historical novels by Nigel Tranter set before 1286
- Historical novels by Nigel Tranter set between 1286-1603
- Historical novels by Nigel Tranter set after 1603
Adventure Novels
These books are sometimes set in the past. But their stories and characters are mostly made up. Nigel called them 'period pieces'.
For a complete list, see: Novels by Nigel Tranter.
Children's Books
- Spaniard's Isle (1958)
- Border Riding (1959)
- Nestor the Monster (1960)
- Birds of a Feather (1961)
- The Deer Poachers (1961)
- Something Very Fishy (1962)
- Give a Dog a Bad Name (1963) (Also called Smoke Across the Highlands in the USA)
- Silver Island (1964)
- Pursuit (1965)
- Tinker Tess (1967)
- Fire and High Water (1967)
- To the Rescue (1968)
Non-fiction Books
- The Fortalices and Early Mansions of Southern Scotland 1400–1650 (1935)
- This book contained sketches and notes from his visits to small castles. He visited them during his teenage years and early twenties. Nigel later said it was "terribly pretentious and pretty amateurish." He used this idea to create his later, more detailed work, The Fortified House in Scotland.
- The Fortified House in Scotland (in five volumes, around 1963)
- Pegasus Book of Scotland (1964)
- Outlaw of the Highlands: Rob Roy (1965)
- This book was a study of the Scottish folk hero Rob Roy MacGregor.
- Land of the Scots (1968)
- The Queen's Scotland (in four volumes, around 1971-1977)
- This was meant to be a detailed guide to every parish in Scotland. His wife helped him a lot. She passed away before he could finish the series.
- Portrait of the Border Country (1972)
- Portrait of the Lothians (1979)
- Nigel Tranter's Scotland (1981)
- Scottish Castles: Tales and Traditions (1982)
- Traveller's Guide to the Scotland of Robert the Bruce (1985)
- The Story of Scotland (1987)
- Footbridge to Enchantment (1992)
- No Tigers in the Hindu Kush (Editor) (1968)
- This book was a tribute to his son Philip, who died in an accident.
Westerns
Nigel Tranter said each of these books took him six weeks to write. He sold them for £100 each. They were published under the name 'Nye Tredgold'.
- Thirsty Range (1950)
- Heartbreak Valley (1951)
- Big Corral (1952)
- Trail Herd (1952)
- Desert Doublecross (1953)
- Cloven Hooves (1954)
- Dynamite Trail (1955)
- Rancher Renegade (1956)
- Trailing Trouble (1957)
- Bloodstone Trail (1958)
Awards and Honors
Nigel Tranter received several awards and honors for his work:
- Honorary Master of Arts (MA) from the University of Edinburgh, 1971
- OBE for his services to literature, 1983
- BBC Scotland Scot of the Year, 1989
- Honorary Doctor of Literature from the University of Strathclyde, 1990
- In 1961, he was made a Knight (Chevalier) of the Order of Saint Lazarus. He later became a Commander of Merit and Chancellor of the Order in Scotland.
