Thomas Runciman was born in Northumberland in 1841, and died in London
in 1909. He was the second son of Walter Runciman of Dunbar and Jean
Finlay, his wife. In his youth he left the beautiful coast where his
father was stationed to go to school and work in Newcastle. Artists of
his name had been men of mark in Scotland, and as he had their strong
feeling for colour he was allowed for a time to become a pupil of
William Bell Scott, who was on the fringe of the Pre-Raphaelite
Movement. Throughout his life he painted portraits and landscapes, but
the latter were what he loved. His work was not widely known, for he had
a nervous contempt for Exhibitions, and the first collection of his
landscapes in water-colour and oil was opened to the public at a
posthumous exhibition in Newcastle in 1911. He travelled from time to
time, and enjoyed living on the banks of the Seine, and in other
beautiful regions abroad.
His poems were never offered for publication, although critical essays
of his appeared from time to time, as for instance in the "London" of
Henley and Stevenson. The Songs and Sonnets were written for his own
satisfaction, and were sent to a few faithful friends and to members of
his own family, who have allowed me to collect and print them. The
miscellaneous verses were in many instances found in letters, and others
written in high spirits were rescued after his death from sketch books
and scraps of paper by his daughter, Kate Runciman Sellers, and by his
friend, Edward Nisbet.