John Gibson Lockhart (1794-1854) was the son-in-law of Sir Walter Scott and was also his biographer. He was born in Lanarkshire and after studying at Glasgow University and Oxford, moved to Edinburgh in 1816 and began to practise law. He soon realised that law was not for him and so began writing, becoming a contributor to the Edinburgh Monthly Magazine and Blackwood's. Lockhart met Sir Walter Scott in 1818 and married his daughter Sophia in 1820. In 1825 he took up editorship of the Quarterly Review, his novel-writing tailing off due to this.