Home, John 1722-1808
Scottish clergyman and dramatist

Born in Leith, Edinburgh, he graduated at Edinburgh, fought on the government side in the 1745 Jacobite Rising, and in 1747 became minister of Athelstaneford. His play Douglas (1754), produced in the Canongate Theatre, Edinburgh in 1756, met with brilliant success, and evoked the oft-quoted and possibly apocryphal 'whaur's yer Wullie Shakespeare noo?' from an overenthusiastic member of the audience. However, it gave such offence to the Edinburgh Presbytery that Home resigned his ministry (1757), and became tutor to the Prince of Wales (later George III). The success of Douglas induced David Garrick in London to produce Home's tragedy, Agis, and to accept his next play, The Siege of Aquileia (1760). His other works are The Fatal Discovery (1769), Alonzo (1773), Alfred (1778), occasional poems, and, in prose, A History of the Rebellion of 1745 (1802).

Bibliography: H Mackenzie, An account of the life and feelings of John Home (1822)