Mr Michael Fry
Nationality: United Kingdom
Year: 1990
Subject Area: Arts and Humanities
My Wingate Scholarship allowed me to make a tour of several months to archives in the United States housing the papers of Henry Dundas, the leading Scottish politician of the late eighteenth century; they had been collected there because of his role as a British hawk in the War of Independence. In consequence I was able to complete my biography of Dundas, published by Edinburgh University Press in 1992. This was the real start of my subsequent career as a Scottish historian. I have written five other books and numerous articles. The last book, and another still to come, are published by commercial rather than academic houses. I work now as a full-time writer except when, from time to time, I hold fellowships at American universities. I can truly say that the Wingate Scholarship changed my life.