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Hector C. Macpherson F.R.S.E (1851 - 1924) was a prolific Scottish writer and journalist who published books, pamphlets and articles on history, biography, politics, religion, and other subjects. He was born in Glasgow on 16th October 1851. As a boy, he lived with his grandparents in Alexandria, West Dunbartonshire and when he left school at fourteen he joined his father in Glasgow. He did not settle there and when he returned to his grandparent's home, he found work in the office of Dalmonach Print Works in Alexandria. Between the ages of eighteen and twenty-one, he embarked on a rigorous course of self-education using the library of the Vale of Leven Mechanics' Institute in Alexandria. He began with the study of Thomas Carlyle and passed on to Mill, Spencer, Arnold and other intellectual giants. At this Institute, he received a prize for best essay which was entitled "The Natural Business Relations Between Employer an Employed." In 1876, he had a series of articles published in the local newspaper, the Dumbarton Herald which were anonymous character sketches of local clergy. When his identity was revealed to the manager of the printing works, he was eventually forced to leave his job. However, in 1877 he had a successful interview with the Edinburgh Evening News and moved to Edinburgh thereafter. In 1880, he married Mary Janet Copland. His son and grandson were also named 'Hector Macpherson' thus causing much confusion. His son, Hector Copland Macpherson (1888-1956), a Church of Scotland minister, had books published on astronomy and the Covenanters and these are often mistaken for his father's. He died on 17th October 1924 and was buried in Grange Cemetery in Edinburgh.

[[Image:Hector 2.jpg|thumb|right|The Three HectorsHector Macpherson III was born in 1923 and died in Edinburgh in 1981This photograph appears in the book, Hector Macpherson: The Man and his Work, op.cit., between pages 16 and 17.]]

This author page uses material from the Wikipedia article "Hector Carsewell Macpherson", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0