Mcgonagall well versed in pain after London trip

HISTORY: Poet’s search for fame and fortune ended in rebuff from famous actor

It was the day the world’s worst poet turned his back on Dundee to seek fame and fortune in London.

William Mcgonagall was a Dundee carpet weaver with a sideline in terrible verse who carried an umbrella to protect himself from rotten fruit thrown at him by strangers.

“The Poet Laureate of Paton’s Lane” gave a farewell address at the Argyle Hall 140 years ago to his “fellow citizens of Dundee” including “all my enemies that want to mock me when passing by”.

He said he would never forget those who had railed against him during his time in Dundee and spoke of his hope that if he ever returned it would be “with the laurels of fame”.

Mcgonagall’s dreams of stardom soon evaporated when he was snubbed by an internationally-famous Shakespearean actor and the only role he was offered was to form a duo with a busker who played a tin whistle.

Dr Norman Watson, the poet’s biographer, said: “Mcgonagall would be tickled pink to know he has stirred up this attention, and first to Google his own name to see The Courier’s latest coverage.”

Mcgonagall’s poetry offered a meticulous chronicle of the times in which he lived and he was instrumental in conveying local and national news to folk with limited literacy skills and less awareness of the world around them.

Dr Watson said Mcgonagall had been sent a fiver by the great Victorian actor Henry Irving and used it to travel down south in 1880.

“The object was to impart his literary and dramatic skills to appreciative new audiences, but when he turned to the serious business of touring theatres and music halls in the hope of securing a booking, it was one cold shoulder after another,” he said.

“Not given to busking, Mcgonagall’s thoughts turned to his benefactor, Henry Irving.

“He trudged to the Lyceum theatre and asked if Irving was in.

“The porter informed him that Mr Irving would not speak to a person like him and showed him the door.”

Mcgonagall retorted he was as good a man as Henry Irving, who was a famous Shakespearean actor.

At every turn he was given the cold shoulder and the only offer he got was from a fellow lodger who earned an honest penny by playing a tin whistle on the streets.

Dl Watson said: “Mcgonagall’s writings devote few words to his disastrous London trip, other than: ‘Unfortunately, I didn’t succeed. Owing to the disappointments I met with, I resolved to return home to Dundee as soon as possible… I was glad to see it, especially my family’.

“He had been scarcely absent a week from long-suffering wife Jean and their children.

“He returned with his tail firmly between his legs, wiser if not wealthier, his dreams scattered to the four winds, his gas at a peep.”

Dr Watson continued: “On his return, an evening’s entertainment was arranged by a few friends for the longdemolished Marine Hall in the longgone Marina Place in the Hawkhill.

“The chairman introduced Mcgonagall and provided a graphic account of his London experiences to much sympathetic ‘ooohhhing’ and ‘aaahhhing’.

“He reassured the audience that the poet, after undergoing a series of hardships and miseries enough to crush the life out of any ordinary mortal, was still very much ‘alive and kicking’.”

To this, added Dr Watson: “there were cheers and prolonged applause”.

Mcgonagall died in poverty in 1902 aged 77 and was buried in a pauper’s grave in Greyfriars Kirkyard, Edinburgh.

William Mcgonagall won notoriety as an extremely bad poet who was ridiculed in his own city and eventually died in poverty in 1902.

Dr Norman Watson said Dundee poet William Mcgonagall would be delighted at the interest in his work today.