Heather Jock

Category

Library Item

Item no

11309

Title

Heather Jock

Description

A shabbily dressed man with a round red nose holds out his hands with an offering to passers-by in Edinburgh. His trousers are torn at the bottom and his hair pokes through the top of his hat.

The poet, Donald Campbell has written a poem inspired by this character by Holt:

Heather Jock

Heather Jock's the feral kind
of beggar you might chance to meet
wandering through close and wynd
or skipping lightly down the street.
Although unsteady in his mind
he's always nimble on his feet.
Without a home he's quite resigned
to sleeping rough on Arthur's Seat
for - as I've said and now repeat -
Heather Jock's the feral kind.

Note: 'Heather Jock' was a name given to vagrants who lived in the Queen's Park. There is also a music hall song which contains the lines 'the muircock may crousely craw/since Heather Jock is nou awa.'

Artist / maker

Holt, Edward P.

Date

1871

Size

23 x 16.6 cm

Type

Watercolour

Location

Edinburgh and Scottish Collection

Edward Holt was an Edinburgh caricaturist and figure painter working in the second half of the nineteenth century. This bound volume contains a large proportion of his surviving work.
There is a little uncertainty over Edward Holt's name. He is sometimes referred to as Edmund and was more commonly known as Ned.

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Related subjects

Clothing and dress > Accessories > Hats

Clothing and dress > Accessories > Neckties

Clothing and dress > Garments > Coats

Places > Scotland > Edinburgh

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