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FoWSS Farewell to Soutar House

William Soutar (1898-1943), ‘The Scottish Poet’, is a major figure in Scottish literature. Across two decades, from Gleanings by an Undergraduate (1923) to his death in 1943, Perth-born Soutar produced a vast body of work. He wrote poetry comfortably in both Scots and English. He was a key figure in the Scottish Literary Renaissance of the early to mid-twentieth century. He is undoubtedly one of Scotland’s greatest poets, whether considered for his Scots bairns’ rhymes, his ‘war poetry’ or some of his other work. Soutar’s prose was even more prolific than his poetry, and he is considered one of the last century’s foremost diarists.

Due to an exacting illness, he spent the last fourteen years of his life at his family home at 27 Wilson Street, and for a long period was confined to bed.

The house was bequeathed to Perth Council by John Soutar, the poet’s father, in his will, stipulating that any resident of Perth could apply to visit the home of Perth’s great poet. Many hundreds of people have done just that over the years.

From 1989 to 2010, decades after Soutar’s death and the bequest of his house, the Soutar House was associated with a series of ‘William Soutar Writer Fellows’, each of whom contributed to the cause of Soutar’s standing and scholarship.

Sadly, Perth and Kinross Council has decided not to maintain the Soutar house as part of their property stock, and, as required by the property deeds, ownership is returning to the Soutar family, which has decided to sell it. (The property will soon come on the market.)

The Friends of William Soutar Society, which was established in 2007 to promote Soutar’s work and knowledge of the poet, and for many years met and ran events at the Soutar House, has just marked the next chapter in the history of the Soutar House by visiting for one last time.

At this last visit, the Friends of William Soutar committee and others interested in Soutar read some of the poet’s verse and discussed his legacy. In acknowledgement of photographs taken in April 1958 at the unveiling of a plaque to Soutar on the front of the Soutar House, one of which includes Hugh MacDiarmid, a once major force in Scottish literature, looking on, two photographs of the visit were taken (by Roben Antoniewicz).

In addition, a photographic archive of the Soutar House has been created thanks to Roben Antoniewicz.

Image Credit: Roben Antoniewicz