James MacLagan

James MacLagan or McLagan (; 1728–1805) was a Church of Scotland minister and collector of Scottish Gaelic poetry and song. His manuscript collection, known as the McLagan Collection, comprises some 250 manuscripts of primarily Gaelic song and poetry collected in the second half of the eighteenth century. The collection includes works by many of the best-known 17th- and 18th-century Gaelic poets such as Iain Lom, Màiri nighean Alasdair Ruaidh and Alasdair mac Mhaighstir Alasdair.

Life and career

McLagan was born in 1728 at the Ballechin estate near Strathtay, Perthshire. his birth (or baptism) is recorded in the parish of Moulin, Perthshire, on 8 September 1728.

After leaving the Black Watch in 1788, he became minister of Blair Atholl and Strowan, Perthshire, and stayed there until his death.

The collection contains 250 manuscripts with some 630 separate items which were collected or transcribed by McLagan, mainly in Scottish Gaelic along with items in Middle Irish, English and Latin. The next year, Macpherson wrote to MacLagan twice to thank him for sending him on some poems. In 1800 McLagan recalled that he had given Macpherson ‘about thirteen poems’.