Home, John (1722-1808)

Scottish dramatist. Douglas, his first and most successful play, was produced at Covent Garden, London, in 1757. Others include Agis 1758, The Siege of Aquileia 1760, Alonzo 1773, and Alfred 1778.

Home was born in Leith, studied at Edinburgh University, and served as a volunteer in the Jacobite rising of 1745. Two years later he became minister of Athelstaneford, but in 1757, following controversy over his writing for the stage, he was compelled by the Edinburgh presbytery to resign. Instead he became private secretary to Lord Bute and, the same year, also tutor to the Prince of Wales. In 1802 Home published a History of the Rebellion of 1745.