Edward James Cowan FRSE (15 February 1944 – 2 January 2022) was a Scottish historian.

Biography

Cowan was born on 15 February 1944 in Edinburgh, Midlothian. Educated at Dumfries Academy, in his sixth year he was Head Boy and played Petruchio in a production of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. He was a professor of Scottish History at the University of Glasgow and Director of the University's Dumfries Campus. He had previously taught at the University of Edinburgh and at the University of Guelph, Ontario. A fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, he was also a visiting professor in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States. He lived in the Glenkens area of Kirkcudbrightshire. Cowan died from lung cancer on 2 January 2022, at the age of 77.

Books