Love2
Wallace JohnstonCorrespondent:
James William Wallace
(1853–1926), of Bolton, England, was an architect and great admirer of
Whitman. Along with John Johnston (1852–1927), a physician from Bolton, he
founded the "Bolton College" of English admirers of the poet. For more
information on Wallace, see Larry D. Griffin, "Wallace, James William (1853–1926)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). Dr. John Johnston (1852–1927) of Annan,
Dumfriesshire, Scotland, was a physician, photographer, and avid cyclist.
Johnston worked as a general practitioner in Bolton and as an instructor of
ambulance classes for the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railways (John Anson,
"Bolton's Illustrious Doctor Johnston—a man of many talents," Bolton News [March 28, 2021]; Paul Salveson, Moorlands, Memories, and reflections: A Centenary Celebration
of Allen Clarke's Moorlands and Memories [Lancashire Loominary, 2020]).
For more information on Johnston, see Larry D. Griffin, "Johnston, Dr. John (1852–1927)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). Johnston and Wallace corresponded with Whitman
and with Horace Traubel and other members of the Whitman circle in the United
States, and they separately visited the poet and published memoirs of their
trips in John Johnston and James William Wallace, Visits to
Walt Whitman in 1890–1891 by Two Lancashire Friends (London:
Allen and Unwin, 1917).