ndrew Lang FBA (31 March 1844 – 20 July 1912)
was a Scottish poet, novelist, literary critic, and contributor
to the field of anthropology. He is best known as a
collector of folk and fairy tales. The Andrew Lang lectures
at the University of St Andrews are named after him.
Lang was born in 1844 in Selkirk, Scottish Borders. He
was the eldest of the eight children. He married Leonora
Blanche Alleyne on 17 April 1875.
He was educated at Selkirk Grammar School, Loretto
School, and the Edinburgh Academy, as well as the
University of St Andrews and Balliol College, Oxford,.
He soon made a reputation as one of the most able and
versatile writers of the day as a journalist, poet, critic, and
historian. He was a member of the Order of the White
Rose, a Neo-Jacobite society which attracted many writers
and artists in the 1890s and 1900s. In 1906, he was elected
FBA.
He died of angina pectoris on 20 July 1912 at the Torna-
Coille Hotel in Banchory. He was buried in the
cathedral precincts at St Andrews, where a monument can
be visited in the south-east corner of the 19th century
section.