Any socialist worthy of the name wants, and works for, a revolutionary transformation of society. That is what he is striving for, that is his ultimate aim. If it is not so, then he—or she—should fly different colours." Henderson dee'd on 8 Mairch 2002, [2] an his funeral at St Mary's Cathedral (Episcopal) wis attendit bi 1500 fowk an that same sang wis sung. [4] He died in Edinburgh on 8 March 2002 aged 82, survived by his wife Kätzel and their daughters, Janet and Christine Henderson. [10] Legacy [ edit ]

Hamish fully agreed with Gramsci’s contention that folklore should be studied seriously. A passage from the Prison Notebooks could stand as a manifesto for Henderson and the School of Scottish Studies:

In 2005, Rounder Records released a recording of the 1951 Edinburgh People's Festival Ceilidh as part of The Alan Lomax Collection. Henderson had collaborated with the preparations for the release. His most famous work, the ‘Freedom Come All Ye’ is a song of liberation and international reconciliation. Out of a past riddled with imperial injustices, Henderson conjures a world of global solidarity, ecological harmony, radical love, dignity, humanity and the flourishing of life in all its forms – a vision that is more vital now than ever. Faced with the threat of the ultimate destruction of the biosphere that supports all life on this planet, his poem of elemental conflict, the ‘Flytin o Life and Daith’, speaks more than poetically to our time.

During 1947 and 1948 he took various teaching engagements, including one at a German high school teachers' summer school in Bad Godesberg, and another working with German prisoners of war in Comrie, Perthshire. Between 1948 and 1949 he was also a district secretary for the Workers' Educational Association. At the same time he was producing a great deal of literary and political criticism, poetry, and songs. In his work, Henderson swung between English and Scots, like Burns before him, writing only rarely in Gaelic. Henderson's influence travelled far wider than Scotland. He fed songs, disquisition, and polemic into the international folk scene too. He took up political argument through his poems and songs, on issues to do with land ownership and access, anti-Polaris missile, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, and the anti-apartheid struggle. He was offered a CBE in 1983, but refused it on account of the pro-nuclear policies of the Thatcher government, which he campaigned against. He lived to see the opening of the Scottish Parliament in 1999, for which he had also campaigned, and died in Edinburgh on 8 March 2002, aged eighty-two. He was survived by his wife Kätzel (Felicitas Schmidt), whom he had married in 1959, and their two daughters. A funeral service in St Mary’s Cathedral in Edinburgh was attended by 1500 people, the coffin preceded by a piper, with the ‘Freedom Come All-Ye’ sung at his departure. In 1983, in protest against Trident, Henderson turned down his OBE and, as a result, was voted “Scot of the Year” by listeners of Radio Scotland. He died in March 2002. In 2012, his literary archive and some family papers and photographs were acquired by the University of Edinburgh. Images The obituaries spoke of a feud with Hugh MacDiarmid and his biographer, Alan Bold. Hamish and Alan were banned from Milne's Bar for fighting. Passions had run high following a disagreement in the columns of The Scotsman about Hugh MacDiarmid's attitude to poetry. The feud is often remembered, but the cause has been forgotten. I believe that that cause is significant and worth revisiting, as it tells us much about Hamish's principles and the way that they permeated all his activities.

Images

University of Edinburgh: Hamish Henderson Archive (includes information about the poet, and details of holdings) Dividing his time between Continental Europe and Scotland, he eventually settled in Edinburgh in 1959 with his German wife, Kätzel (Felizitas Schmidt). Henderson was very much a part of the ‘folk process’ he championed. For some, this position was problematic and riddled with contradictions, but these were contradictions that Henderson himself embraced. His affinity with the cultural politics of the Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci is important here. A constant theme in Henderson’s writing, like Gramsci’s, is the role of the intellectual in society. Gramsci famously ‘hated indifference,’ believing that ‘living means taking sides.’ ‘Those who really live’ he wrote, ‘cannot help being a citizen and a partisan.’ In this spirit, Henderson refused to separate his life, scholarship, art and politics – writing, Geordie McIntyre (1973), Resurgimento!, an interview with Hamish Henderson, in Maisels, Chic K. (ed.), Folk Song and the Folk Tradition, Festival issue of the New Edinburgh Review, August 73, pp.12 & 13 Harvie, Christopher (1998). No Gods and Precious Few Heroes: Twentieth-century Scotland. p.16. ISBN 9780748609994.

James) Hamish Scott Henderson (11 November 1919 – 9 March 2002) was a Scottish poet, songwriter, communist, intellectual and soldier. matriculation photograph (Downing College Archive, DCPH/2/1/7; credit: Lafayette Photography Ltd) Sources Folklore must not be considered an eccentricity, an oddity or a picturesque element, but as something which is very serious and is to be taken seriously. Only in this way will the teaching of folklore be more efficient and really bring about the birth of a new culture among the broad popular masses, so that the separation between modern culture and popular culture of folklore will disappear.Fred Freeman (2022), "Burns, Hamish and Sang", Pairt 1, in Morton, Elaine & Hershaw, William, Lallans 100, Simmer 2022, pp.111 – 119, ISSN 1359-3587 a b Heywood, Pete (April 1999). "Hamish Henderson". The Living Tradition (feature article). No.32 . Retrieved 15 November 2015. A country that does not know its history and folklore cannot truly possess a vision for its future. Hamish Henderson's lasting legacy to Scotland will be not only his own poetry and songs but the countless songs and poems that he resurrected, recorded and catalogued for present and future generations of Scots. Everyone owes him a debt of gratitude for having undertaken and achieved so much in that field. Edinburgh should never forget that the people's festival, which he helped to create in 1951, was the precursor of the present Edinburgh festival fringe, which brings so many benefits to the city. Corey Gibson, The Voice of the People: Hamish Henderson and Scottish Cultural Politics, Edinburgh University Press, 2015

In my lifetime, the ascendent neoliberal agenda of globalisation has deeply transformed the material conditions of our world, and may yet bring about our ultimate destruction. In 1948 – 1949, Henderson workit wi the Workers' Educational Association and wis screiving in Inglis an Scots. [3] Frae 1955 tae 1987 he warkit at the Scuil o Scots Studies at the Varsity o Edinburgh, [3] an wis flyting wi Hugh MacDiarmid. He whiles translatit the letters frae prison o socialist Antonio Gramsci. [4] [2] His ‘ The Flyting o’ Life and Daith’ (1964) and ithir works in Scots wir promuivin the Scots Renaissance. [4] Mr Henderson's compassion ... gives his poetry a rough humanity, a sincerity and an emotional truth that make it valuable."

In celebration of Hamish Henderson, Scotland's great and neglected folk poet

Boat Club photograph, family collection and now in the Hamish Henderson archive, University of Edinburgh (credit: Lafayette Photography Ltd)