The Cunninghame Graham Society
celebrating the life and work of Robert Bontine Cunninghame Graham
~ politician, writer, traveller, horseman, visionary and humanitarian ~
Resources
Much has been written and said about RBCG in the nearly ninety years since his death in 1936. His political and literary endeavours are well documented, and his personal life, including his many journeys and adventures, has been explored in a number of biographies.
The National Library of Scotland holds an extensive collection of RBCG's papers, correspondence and other material (here). Dartmouth College, New Hampshire is one of two American institutions that hold papers (here); the other being the University of Texas at Austin (here). The National Portrait Gallery holds paintings, drawings, sculptures and photographs (here), as do National Galleries of Scotland (here), Glasgow's Kelvingrove Art Gallery (here) and Aberdeen Art Gallery. The Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum has a library dedicated to RBCG (here).
As a starting point, here are links to a selection of relatively recent books and articles, broadcasts and talks.
“When I think of you, I feel as though I have lived all my life in a dark hole without seeing or knowing anything.”
~ Joseph Conrad
Books
The Complete Scottish Sketches of RB Cunninghame Graham: A Careless Enchantment​​
​Edited by Lachlan Munro and WRB Cunninghame Graham
​The complete Scottish sketches are for the first time set in their cultural context and transcribed from their original sources to provide an overview of RBCG's literary, political and personal development.​
Don Roberto: the Adventure of Being Cunninghame Graham​
by James Jauncey
​In this most recent biography, James Jauncey examines the life of his great-great-uncle in the round, and explores what it means to have a near-mythical figure in recent family history.​
RB Cunninghame Graham & Scotland: Party, Prose, and Political Aesthetic
by Lachlan Munro
​RBCG's political and literary influences, and his own influence on late 19th/early 20th century Scottish political and cultural life​ as a campaigning politician and writer.​
Empires & Revolutions: Cunninghame Graham & His Contemporaries
Edited by Carla Sassi and Silke Stroh
Essays exploring the interaction between imperial and revol-utionary discourse in the age of European empires, as expressed in the works of RBCG and other Scottish writers of the period.
An Eagle in a Henhouse: Selected Political Speches and Writings of RB Cunninghame Graham
by Lachlan Munro
Arranged by subject, these reflect RBCG's political development from his earliest days as a Liberal politician in north-west Lanarkshire, through Labour, to his final days as a Scottish nationalist.
The Cunninghame Graham Collection
Edited by Alan MacGillivray and John C McIntyre
The collected stories and sketches in five volumes: Photographed on the Brain; Living with Ghosts; Ice House of the Mnd; Fire froma Black Opal; A Ring upon the Sand.
The People's Laird: A Life of Robert Bontine Cunninghame Graham
by Anne Taylor
This meticulously researched and privately printed biography sheds new light on RBCG, his relationships, his travels and the origins of his literary and political thinking.​
Gaucho Laird
by Jean Cunninghame Graham
A semi-fictionalised account of RBCG's life by his great-niece and literary executor, which draws heavily on his writings and correspondence to imagine scenes from childhood and adult life.
RB Cunninghame Graham: Fighter for Social Justice
​Ian M Fraser
An appreciation of his social and religious outlook in the industrialised society of late 19th/early 20th century Britain.
​(Privately printed, 2002)
Earlier Works
​
​Robert and Gabriela Cunninghame Graham
Portrait of a marriage
Alexander Maitland (William Blackwood, 1983)
​
RB Cunninghame Graham
The writings of RBCG
Cedric Watts (Twayne Publishers, Boston, 1983)
​
Cunninghame Graham: a Critical Biography
Cedric Watts & Laurence Davies (Cambridge University Press, 1979)
​
Joseph Conrad's Letters to Cunninghame Graham
Edited by CT Watts (Cambridge University Press, 1969)
​​​
El Escocés Errante: RB Cunninghame Graham
Alicia Jurado (Emecé Editores, Buenos Aires, 1968)
​
Don Roberto: RB Cunninghame Graham
AF Tschiffely (William Heinemann, 1937)
​​​​
Cunninghame Graham: His Life and Works
H Faulkner West (Cranley & Day, 1932)
​
Radio & TV
The Golden Key
​Playwright Chris Dolan imagines an encounter at Gartmore between RBCG and his wife Gabriela, Keir Hardie and James Connolly.
​(Drama on 4, BBC Radio 4, February 2023)​​​
Don Roberto – RB Cunninghame Graham
​Writer and broadcaster Billy Kay's sweeping life of RBCG, first broadcast in 1999, now with an additional, fifth episode. ​​​​​​
​(BBC Radio Scotland, February 2018)
In The Footsteps Of ... Robert Bontine Cunninghame Graham
​A thirty-minute introduction to the life of RBCG.
(BBC Radio Scotland, 3 December 2009)​​​​​​
The Adventures of Don Roberto
​Chris Dolan presents this one-hour TV documentary on the life of RBCG.
(BBC Scotland, 15 December 2008)​​​​​​
Press
Some recent press articles include:
​
The Adventures of Don Roberto
A two-part essay introducing the life and work of RB Cunninghame Graham by James Jauncey
The National: Part 1 and Part Two
​​​
A World of Story Rediscovered: RB Cunninghame Graham, Scotland's Forgotten Writer
An introduction to RBCG's life and work by Alan McGillivray
​
The Adventure of Being Cunninghame Graham
Charlie Lynch reviews James Jauncey's 2023 biography
​
RB Cunninghame Graham is a man of original genius
Alan Riach previews the CG Society's two-day 2024 symposium
The National​​​​
Talks
The Society's programme of talks went online during the pandemic, though not all the recordings are now available. In some cases the relevant papers can be found below.
Chris Dolan and Jamie Jauncey in conversation: Don Roberto – The Adventure of Being Cunninghame Graham
6 October 2023​​​​​​​
Conor Mark Jameson: Finding Señor Hudson –Cunninghame Graham's alter ego
​
3 June 2022​​​​​​​
Jamie Jauncey: Gabriela Cunninghame Graham – the Performance of Her Life​
25 March 2022​​​​​​​
Richard Niland: Cunninghame Graham and the Rights of Nature​
18 February 2022​​​​​​​
Rob Gibson: Robert Bontine Cunninghame Graham – A Scot with a World View, inheritance, experience and influence
​
3 December 2021
Gerry McGarvey: Cunninghame Graham, Hardie, UK politics in 1900s fin de siècle, and the difficult birth of Labour and its progeny
​5 November 2021
Papers
Alan McGillivray explores RBCG's A Brazilian Mystic, being the Life and Miracles of Antonio Conselheiro – here
Alan McGillivray discusses RBCG's portrait of his ancestor, Doughty Deeds (November 2020) – here
John McIntyre analyses RBCG's A Vanished Arcadia, and revisits the film The Mission (February 2021) – here
Laurence Davis discusses RBCG and Joseph Conrad, with special reference to Nostromo (April 2021) – here
Robin Cunninghame Graham considers RBCG's Scottish writings (June 2021) – here
See also Don Roberto and Scotland: International Perspectives (May 2024) – here
​
See also Professor Alan Riach's exhaustive overview of RBCG's writings - here