Florence Marian McNeill
folklorist and culinary writer| 1885-1973
Florence Marian McNeill (1885-1973) was a notable figure in the Scottish Literary Renaissance of the early twentieth century. Her contributions to Scottish culture and language span many fields, including her work in suffrage, political activism, writing, and documenting food heritage and folklore.
McNeill was born in Holm, Orkney, on 26th March 1885 to Jessie Janet Dewar and Reverend Daniel McNeill, a minister of the Free Kirk in Orkney. The eighth of twelve children, she was affectionately referred to as ‘Floss’. McNeill befriended Edwin Muir while attending Kirkwall Burgh School, and her pocket diaries in the National Library of Scotland suggest she then studied in France and Germany, before attending the University of Glasgow. She graduated with an MA in 1912 and went on to teach English in both France and Germany.
Moving to London, McNeill then worked as an organiser for the Scottish Federation of Women's Suffrage Societies. She later worked as an Organising Secretary on the Executive Committee for the Association for Moral and Social Hygiene, a prominent abolitionist organisation, where she co-authored an inquiry concerning the protection of minor girls with FJ Wakefield in 1916.
After the First World War, McNeill spent time abroad in France, Germany, Greece, Palestine, and Egypt, and contributed to newspapers including the Scotsman and Glasgow Herald. Her first solo book, a well-researched guide to Iona entitled Iona: A History of the Island, was published in 1920. McNeill organised a ‘Peacemakers Pilgrimage’ through Scotland, England, and Wales in 1926, as part of a campaign for universal disarmament. She then moved to Edinburgh where she worked as a researcher for the Scottish National Dictionary, eventually becoming principal assistant on the project in 1928.
In 1929, McNeill published The Scots Kitchen, which remains a central text in all discussions of Scottish cuisine. An encyclopaedic work detailing the diversity of Scotland's culinary heritage, The Scots Kitchen shares recipes for numerous national dishes. Throughout, the work refers to Scottish history and texts by writers including Walter Scott, Robert Burns, and Susan Ferrier. Following the success of this work, McNeill produced several more books celebrating Scottish food and drink traditions.
She founded the Clan MacNeil Association of Scotland and published her only novel, The Road Home, in 1932. Amalgamating the National Party of Scotland and the Scottish Party, McNeill and her brother Duncan were founding members of the Scottish National Party in 1934. She became the SNP’s first vice president in the same year. In 1944 she became a member of the Secretary of State for Scotland’s Committee on Rural Housing.
McNeill is perhaps best known for The Silver Bough, a four-volume study of Scotland’s festivals which provides a wealth of information on folklore and folk-belief, both national and local. The first volume was published in 1957, and the final volume in 1968.
McNeill was awarded an MBE for services to Scottish culture in 1962 and passed away in Edinburgh on 22nd February 1973.
Contributed by Gina Lyle.
Bibliography
Elizabeth Ewan, Sue Innes, Siân Reynolds, and Rose Pipes, eds. The Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women: From the Earliest Times to 2004 (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2006)
Patricia Long. “Florence Marian McNeill,” About Orkney.
Nan Spowart, “Florence Marian McNeill: The Scottish Renaissance woman who history should never forget,” The National, 15th October 2018. \
“Florence Marian McNeill,” The University of Glasgow Story.