An Honorary Son of Angus - Peter F Anson

 Too few people know about the life and work of Peter F. Anson (1889-1975). He was a man of many parts, and his biography has a description that few other modern men could match: monk, writer, artist. Although born in the south of England, Anson's mother (who died when he was fourteen) was a native of Mull and was profoundly patriotic and nationalistic. Anson came to live in Scotland in the 1930s and was acquainted with nationalistic minded writers such as Neil M. Gunn and Compton Mackenzie. Earlier in his life he had been an Anglican Benedictine monk on the Welsh island of Caldey before converting to Catholicism. Among his many achievements was writing some forty books, many on different aspects of the sea, fishing and religion. 

   One feature of Anson's life, almost a correlary to his intense spiritual nature, was his physical restlessness, which continued through his middle and old age. Moving to the south of England in 1952, he upped sticks again and settled in Macduff, where he managed to stay until 1958. Then he decamped for a cottage near Ramsgate Abbey. This again did not suit him and he headed north in 1960, choosing a residence in Portsoy, near Macduff. This too was a brief stay and he came to stay in Montrose, and then nearby in Ferryden. He moved to 1 King Street, Ferryden, in 1963 and shifted to 3 King Street in 1965. There was a connection with his family here: one of the house's feu charters had been signed by his maternal great-grandfather in 1841. He regarded it as a kind of homecoming. His maternal great-great grandfather was Hercules Ross, who built Rossie Castle near Montrose. 

   These were years of extraordinary creativity for Anson. As well as working on a panorama of Scottish fishing he authored numerous books. Fisher Folk-Lore (1965), contains some interesting material regarding his adopted home of Ferryden and other Scottish material. Also interesting, from an Angus viewpoint, is his 1970 book Underground Catholicism in Scotland, 1622-1878 (a revised edition of his 1937 publication The Catholic Church in Modern Scotland).

   After he left Angus, Anson lived in both the monastery on Caldey Island and in Sancta Maria Abbey in East Lothian. He died in 1975. Those who wish to view his art can visit the Buckie Maritime Museum, recipient of 400 of his watercolours which Anson donated in 1971.

Further Information

 

Anson Collection, Falconer Museum, Forres

Life of Peter F. Anson at Scanlan.co.uk

Peter Anson – Artist, Writer And Sometime Priest/

Chris Loughran, Peter Anson and a Horse-Drawn Caravan

Michael Yelton, Peter Anson: Monk, Writer and Artist, An Introduction to His Life and Work, The Anglo-Catholic History Society, London, 2005.