David MacRitchie

David MacRitchie (16 April 1851 – 14 January 1925) was a Scottish folklorist and antiquarian. He proposed that stories of fairies originated with an aboriginal race that occupied the British Isles before Celts and other groups arrived.

Early life

David MacRitchie was the younger son of William Dawson MacRitchie and Elizabeth Elder MacRitchie. He was born in Edinburgh and attended the Edinburgh Southern Academy, the Edinburgh Institute and the University of Edinburgh. He did not gain a degree but qualified as a chartered accountant. His father had been a surgeon in the East India Company.

Career as folklorist

In 1888 MacRitchie founded the Gypsy Lore Society to study the history and lore of Gypsies. He was also a member of several folklore societies. In 1914, he joined the Council of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, serving as vice-president from 1917 – 1920. He was noted for his interest in archaeology, being appointed as a trustee for Lord Abercromby's endowment for an Archaeology department at the University of Edinburgh. He was also a member of the Scottish Arts Club and vice-president of the Philosophical Institution.

From 1922 until his death, he served as the treasurer of the Scottish Anthropological and Folklore Society.

Fairy euhemerism

David MacRitchie was a prominent proponent of the euhemeristic origin of fairies, a theory traceable to the early 19th century that considers fairies in British folklore to have been rooted in a historical pygmy, dwarf or short-sized aboriginal race, that lived during Neolithic Britain or even earlier.