John Geddie (1848–1937) was a journalist and author of several books mainly on the subject of Edinburgh. His earliest books were about foreign parts but it is not known whether he actually visited these places.
In June 1882, Geddie became a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. He was recommended as Fellow by John Bartholomew and the geographer, John Francon Williams (father of missionary and writer, Aeneas Francon Williams).[a] This followed the publication of his works on Africa, the Himalayas and the Russian Empire. As the latter work is 572 pages long and seems written by someone with an intimate knowledge of Russia, he may have travelled there though there is no record of this.
In 1889, Geddie joined the Institute of Journalists. According to Neil Macara Brown: "Geddie is credited with coining the term 'wee free' in reference to the remnant of the Free Church of Scotland. In a leader he jibed: 'It is hard to see how the poor wee Free Church, which has just come into so overwhelming an inheritance, is to free itself; even if it wished, from the fortune which the law has hung about its neck.'"[a]
In 1875, he married Isabella Cecilia Young (d. 1931) and they had four sons and three daughters. His interests were golf, cycling, and especially walking. He played a major role in the establishment of the Braid Hills Public Golf Course and the Edinburgh Evening Dispatch Trophy there in 1888.[a] He died in Edinburgh on 20 January 1937.[2]
The Water of Leith, From Source to Sea, With illustrations by Joseph Brown; Edinburgh : W. H. White & Co., 1896.
The Home Country of R. L. Stevenson. Being the Valley of the Water of Leith from source to sea, illustrated by Joseph Brown, (second edition), Edinburgh and London : W. H. White & Co., 1898.
Romantic Edinburgh, London : Sands & Co., 1900, (with editions in 1911 and 1929).
^ abcInformation supplied by e-mail by the librarian of the Royal Geographical Society. He is recorded there as being a journalist living at South Lothian Street, Edinburgh.
