John Heriot

Who was John Heriot?

John Heriot was a Scottish journalist and writer.

He was forced to join the Royal Marines due to family hardship, and served as a junior officer during the American Revolutionary War. He was wounded in 1780 at the Battle of Martinique, and retired from the service in 1783; after living in financial difficulties for some years, he published two moderately successful novels in the 1780s, the second of which drew extensively on his experiences as a half-pay officer.

He was recruited as a pro-government journalist and pamphleteer in 1788, and placed on a salary the following year. He became the founder and sole editor of two pro-government daily newspapers, the Sun and the True Briton, which ran for over a decade, and eventually retired from journalistic work in 1806. He was appointed to a number of government posts, most significantly the comptrollership of Chelsea Hospital, the post he held at his death.

He was a distant relative of the philanthropist George Heriot, and the younger brother of the Scots-Canadian artist George Heriot.