William Lindsay Renwick

William Lindsay Renwick (6 January 1889 – 25 November 1970) was professor of English literature at Durham University from 1921 to 1945 and Regius Professor of Rhetoric and English Literature at the University of Edinburgh from 1945 to 1959.

Early life and education Renwick was born at 32 Kelvin Drive, Glasgow, on 6 January 1889, the youngest of five children of Jane Renwick (née Lindsay), a teacher of English, and William Kirkwood Renwick, a mercantile clerk. In October 1907, he enrolled at the University of Glasgow and graduated with an ordinary MA degree on 10 June 1910 having taken classes in mathematics, logic, and moral philosophy. the following year he was awarded a B.Litt degree for his thesis on the renaissance poet, Edmund Spenser.

He then returned to Glasgow where he lectured for a short spell at the University of Glasgow; residing at 32 Keir Street, Pollokshields. In 1953, Renwick was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Law by the University of Glasgow. The collection highlights in particular the Scottish artists of the twentieth century.

Professor William Lindsay Renwick is commemorated on the Glasgow School of Art’s First World War Roll of Honour.

Selected publications Edmund Spenser, An Essay in Renaissance Poetry (1925) Edmund Spenser's Complaints (1928) Spenser's Works (1928) Daphaida and other Poems (1929) The Shepherd's Calendar (1930) (as editor) Edmund Spenser, A View of the Present State of Ireland (1934). John of Bordeaux (1936) The Beginnings of English Literature (1939) The Faerie Queene (1947) English Literature 1789-1815, a contribution to the Oxford History of English Literature (1963) Kipling's Mind and Art (1964) (as editor) John Moore, Mordaunt: Sketches of Life, Characters and Manners in Various Countries (1965)