William McKay Aitken

William McKay Aitken (Bill Aitken) is a Scottish born, naturalized Indian travel writer and a mountain lover. He is the author of a number of books about India, its mountains, rivers and its steam trains. His books are well loved because of their playful spirit and investigative attention to detail. For example, he demonstrates this in (page 122) of 'Footloose in the Himalayas', where he manages to locate and describe a packet of the famous Berinag tea with its logo from the 1930s. He thus preserves it in history with his words. Even as he drives through the tea estates of Dan Singh Bist he calls him by his local nickname 'maldar' and adroitly describes the unique taste of Chinese tea on Indian soil and its logo which has an Berinag girl in Chinese dress.

Born in Tullibody in Clackmannanshire, Scotland in 1934, Aitken attended Handsworth Grammar School Birmingham and completed his M.A in comparative religion at the University of Leeds. In 1959, he hitchhiked overland to India and taught for a year at Hindi HighSchool in Calcutta. From 1960 to 1972, he lived in Himalayan ashrams at Kausani and Mirtola. In 1972, he became a naturalized Indian citizen. With their Guru's blessings he joined Prithwi Bir Kaur, the dowager Maharani of the erstwhile Sikh Princely state of Jind as companion. Based in Delhi and Mussoorie, Aitken travelled widely in India, covering the religious landscape in a dozen travel books. Bill Aitken's writings are characterized by a free-wheeling description of his travels, interspersed with intimate details of the land and its people, and their religious beliefs. He has been President of the Friends of the National Rail Museum in New Delhi and hon. Librarian of the Himalayan Club.

William McKay

Lt.-Colonel William McKay (1772 – 18 August 1832) is remembered for leading the Canadian Forces to victory at the Siege of Prairie du Chien during the War of 1812. After the war, he was appointed Superintendent of Indian Affairs at Drummond Island in what was then Upper Canada. Previous to the war, McKay was a noted fur trader who had travelled widely in Canada. He was a partner of the North West Company and a member of the Beaver Club at Montreal. He was a brother of Alexander McKay, who accompanied Sir Alexander Mackenzie to the Pacific Ocean in 1793.

Loyalist background

Born at Mohawk River Valley, he was the son of Donald McKay, a former soldier with the 78th Fraser Highlanders, and his wife Elspeth Kennedy. His father, a native of Golspie, Sutherland, fought at the Battle of Quebec. At the end of the Seven Years' War, his father was discharged from the British Army and settled at Mohawk River. During the American War of Independence, Donald McKay served with the King's Royal Regiment of New York and was afterwards one of the original United Empire Loyalists who settled at Glengarry County, Upper Canada.

William McKay (disambiguation)

William McKay may refer to:

See also

William McKay (footballer)

William McKay was a Scottish professional footballer who played as an inside forward. He played in the Football League for Burnley, as well as the Scottish Football League with Raith Rovers and Hearts.

References