SMALL, JOHN (1726–1796), major-general, was born at Strath Ardle in the district of Atholl in Perthshire in 1726. After serving in the Scottish brigade in the Dutch service, he obtained a commission as ensign in the 42nd highlanders on 29 Aug. 1747, and was appointed lieutenant in 1756, on the eve of the departure of the regiment to America to serve under John Campbell, fourth earl of Loudoun [q. v.] He took part in the unsuccessful attack on Ticonderoga, under Major-general James Abercrombie, accompanied Sir Jeffrey Amherst in his expedition against Canada in the following year, and in 1760 proceeded to Montreal. Two years later he sailed with his regiment against Martinique, and was made captain. On 14 June 1775 he received a commission as major to raise a body of highlanders in Nova Scotia to act against the colonists. He took part in the battle of Bunker's Hill, and shortly after was appointed to command the 2nd battalion of the 84th royal engineers, with part of which he joined Sir Henry Clintock at New York in 1779. He was appointed lieutenant-colonel in 1780, and received his commission as colonel on 18 Nov. 1790. In 1793 he was nominated lieutenant-governor of Guernsey, and became major-general on 3 Oct. 1794. He died at Guernsey on 17 March 1796. He is a prominent figure in Trumbull's picture of Bunker's Hill.
[Hist. Records of the Forty-second or Royal Highland Regiment of Foot, passim; Appleton's Cyclopædia of American Biography, v. 552; Notes and Queries, 8th ser. iv. 98.]
SMALL, JOHN (1828–1886), librarian of Edinburgh University, son of John Small and Margaret Brown his wife, was born at Edinburgh in 1828. He was educated at the Edinburgh Academy and the university, where he graduated M.A. in 1847. In the same year, on the death of his father, who was acting librarian of the university library, he succeeded to the post. In 1854 he obtained the full status of librarian, with an official residence. He held the office, also in succession to his father, of acting librarian to the College of Physicians (Edinburgh), for which he prepared a catalogue in 1863. He also served for many years as assistant clerk to the Senatus Academicus and editor of the ‘University Calendar.’ He was president of the Library Association in 1880, and on 21 April 1886 the university of Edinburgh gave him the degree of LL.D. He was for some time treasurer of the university musical society.
Small devoted his leisure to literary work. His first larger publication was a volume, ‘English Metrical Homilies … Edited, with an Introduction and Notes,’ 4to, Edinburgh, 1862. He was the chief associate of Cosmo Innes in editing the ‘Journal of Andrew Halyburton,’ published in 1867. Thereafter his chief labour was expended on editing, with careful glossaries and indices, the works of early Scottish poets, viz. ‘The Poetical Works of Gavin Douglas,’ 4 vols. 8vo, Edinburgh, 1874; Sir David Lyndesay's ‘Monarchie’ for the Early English Text Society (1865–6), and ‘The Poems of William Dunbar’ for the Scottish Text Society (1884–1892). In 1885 he re-edited Dr. Laing's ‘Remains of Early Scottish Poetry,’ prefixing a bibliographical notice of his predecessor. To the ‘British and Foreign Evangelical Review’ he sent an elaborate article on the authorship of the ‘Ode to the Cuckoo,’ and he contributed numerous papers to the ‘Transactions’ of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the Society of Antiquaries. He also gave much assistance to Sir Alexander Grant in writing the ‘History of Edinburgh University’ (1884).
After a long illness he died unmarried in Edinburgh on 20 Aug. 1886, and was buried in the Grange cemetery.
Besides the works mentioned, Small wrote:
- ‘Some Account of the Original Protest of the Bohemian Nobles,’ 4to, Edinburgh, 1861.
- ‘Historical Sketch of the Library of the Royal College of Physicians,’ 4to, Edinburgh, 1863.
- ‘Biographical Sketch of Dr. Adam Fergusson,’ 4to, Edinburgh, 1864.
- ‘Biographical Sketch of Patrick Fraser Tytler,’ 8vo, Edinburgh, 1864.
- ‘A Hundred Wonders of the World in Nature and Art,’ 8vo, Edinburgh, 1876.
- ‘On Serfdom in Scotland,’ 4to, Edinburgh, 1878.
- ‘The Castles and Mansions of the Lothians,’ 2 vols. Edinburgh, 4to, 1878.
- ‘Queen Mary at Jedburgh in 1566 …’ 4to, Edinburgh, 1881.
He edited ‘The Indian Primer,’ by John Eliot, 12mo, Edinburgh, 1878; ‘The Image of Ireland,’ by John Derricke, 4to, Edinburgh, 1883; and ‘A Description of the Isles of Orkney,’ by J. Wallace, 8vo, Edinburgh, 1883.
[Obituary Notice in Scotsman, August 1886; notice of his life by Professor W. P. Dickson in Library Chron., December 1887.]
SMALLE, PETER (fl. 1596–1615), poet, born in 1578 or the end of 1577, was a native of Berkshire. He matriculated from St. John's College, Oxford, on 5 Nov. 1596, and graduated B.C.L. on 17 Dec. 1602. In 1604 he became rector of Pinnock in Gloucestershire.
In 1615 Smalle published a poem of con-
