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Rabbie Burns' muse among Scots being added to biography dictionary

International biography collection to feature around 40 new Scots entries.

08 October 2009 01:00 GMT

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Rabbie Burns' muse among Scots being added to biography dictionary

The wife and muse of Robert Burns is to be included in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

Jean Armour is among around 40 Scots being added to the archive.

Archibald Leitch, the designer of the Ibrox stadium which collapsed in 1902, leaving 26 people dead, and author John McNeillie, who wrote Wigtown Ploughman under the pseudonym Ian Niall, will also feature.

It follows a decision to make Scotland one of the themes of the archive's annual October update. The record is updated three times a year and will now feature more than 57 thousand biographies.

Dr Philip Carter, publication editor at the Oxford DNB, said: "Our starting point really was the 250th anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns. We wanted to do something to commemorate that along with the idea of homecoming in the Homecoming Year.

"About 40 of the 96 additions are Scottish. Just over 2,000 biographies have been added to the online version since 2004.

"We are interested in lives where people have left their mark on an aspect of national life.

"We commission expert specialist authors to write pieces on the material. It's written by people immersed in the subject."

The latest update has also focussed on Latin America, bringing the total number of new additions this month to 96.

The Oxford DNB online is available free to most library users in the UK, with some able to access the biographies from their home computers.

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