| Dates: | 1800 - 1870 | | Active: | Scotland |
Preparing biographies
Moir, one of the finest lawyers in Edinburgh, was highly regarded for his clarity and force at the bar. But in its obituary of him, the Scotsman noted “that he was better known as a literary man than as a lawyer.” A prolific author, he took the post of professor of Rhetoric and Belles Lettres at Edinburgh University in the late 1830s. His special passion was poetry. Moir knew a wide range of people in Edinburgh, and it is not surprising that photography became his interest. He joined the Calotype Club in the 1840s and contributed to the Edinburgh Photograph Exchange Club album. In 1856, Moir, one of the founding members of the Photographic Society of Scotland, was elected a vice president. Some of his photographs were taken in Ghent. At what would be late in professional life for many lawyers, Moir was appointed chair of Scots Law for the Faculty of Advocates. Ill health prevented him from giving his lectures, and he decided to move to London, but he died in Edinburgh the day he was to depart.
Roger Taylor & Larry J. Schaaf Impressed by Light: British Photographs from Paper Negatives, 1840-1860 (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2007)
This biography is courtesy and copyright of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and is included here with permission.
Date last updated: 4 Nov 2012.
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