Hugh MacDiarmid
Scottish poet, pen name of Christopher Murray Grieve (1892-1978) · United Kingdom · On the map · Writers · Died at 86
Christopher Murray Grieve, best known by his pen name Hugh MacDiarmid, was a Scottish poet, journalist, essayist and political figure. He is considered one of the principal forces behind the Scottish Renaissance and has had a lasting impact on Scottish culture and politics.
Hugh MacDiarmid is read about 76 times a day, in 23 languages.
A typical day, 30 days to 3 November 2026
The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 105 days, one point a day.
Something wrong?People around Hugh
Family
Hugh MacDiarmidIs this everyone?
Only relatives with a profile here are drawn, so a family can be larger than this. A line here can also be wrong.
Correct this familyMedia & music
Photos 5
Poster for Hugh MacDiarmid exhibition held at the National Library of Scotland in honour of his 75th birthday in 1967![McDiarmid (bottom row, third from left) in a photograph of attendees of Malcolm X's speech at the Oxford Union, 3 December 1964. The two debated that day on the use of force to resist oppression.[15]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/53/Humphry_Berkeley_with_Malcolm_X_3_Dec_1964_at_Oxford_Union.jpg/1280px-Humphry_Berkeley_with_Malcolm_X_3_Dec_1964_at_Oxford_Union.jpg)
McDiarmid (bottom row, third from left) in a photograph of attendees of Malcolm X's speech at the Oxford Union, 3 December 1964. The two debated that day on the use of force to resist oppression.[15]
Plaque on a building near Gladstone Court Museum, Biggar, South Lanarkshire which was opened by MacDiarmid in 1968. The inscription reads "Let the lesson be - to be yersel's and to mak' that worth bein'". Sculpted by Douglas Robertson 1995.
MacDiarmid Memorial near LangholmAbout this person
He was a founding member of the National Party of Scotland in 1928 but left in 1933 due to his Marxist-Leninist views. He joined the Communist Party of Great Britain the following year only to be expelled in 1938 for his nationalist sympathies. He subsequently stood as a parliamentary candidate for both the Scottish National Party (1945) and Communist Party of Great Britain (1964).
