George Soutar was born in 1864 at East Leys of Dun, his father's farm. In 1879 the family moved to Montrose to let George attend the Academy. His main subjects at school were Classics and English, as they were at St Andrews, which he entered in 1882. He won the English Poetry Prize for a poem on 'Immortality', and graduated in 1887 with First Class Honours in Classics. His interest in poetry extended to several verses in The University Magazine, some of them original, others translations from the Greek. During the years he spent teaching in Banff, Ramsgate, Dundee, and as English Master in Elgin and Helensburgh, he was working on a thesis on 'Nature in Greek Poetry', which gained him the degree of D Litt from St Andrews in 1897. He was appointed External Examiner in English at St Andrews, and, in 1907, was elected to the staff of University College, Dundee, first as Lecturer, afterward as Reader in English, until he retired in 1935. He continued as External Examiner in English for a second term. He had also represented the University for many years on the St Andrews Provincial Committee for the Training of Teachers, of which he was chairman at the time of his death.
He published a volume of Selections from Pope, a Book of Ballads and two articles on Sir George Mackenzie in the Scots Magazine. His major works were the aforementioned thesis, covering the whole range of extant Greek Poetry, and a major contribution of Scots words and phrases from the Angus and Mearns, to the Scottish National Dictionary .
From the guide to the Dr George Soutar, Reader in English, University College, Dundee, 1887-1935, (University of Dundee)
