Ian Hill

Although Joseph Train (1779-1852), the celebrated antiquarian and associate of Sir Walter Scott, was an Ayrshireman, he was based for the principal part of his career in Dumfriesshire and Galloway.2 Train’s antiquarian endeavours have been noted in these Transactions on previous occasions as have the Statistical Accounts.3 This article argues that antiquarianism had a considerable impact on the Statistical Accounts and notes Train’s contribution to them in particular. It also suggests that Train’s production of a Statistical Account of the Isle of Man (1845) was the direct result of his involvement with Scott, ‘statistics’ and South-West Scotland; and that his work on Man should be seen as an expression of territorial identity within an over-arching and increasingly patriotic British state. The article begins by contrasting the background and career of Train with the principal authors of the Accounts, the ministers of the Church of Scotland, as a means of emphasising his achievements.