Author: Cargill, John
Biography:
CARGILL, John (1789-1867: Fife Herald)
A native of Largo, the son of John Cargill and Ann (Blyth) Cargill, he was baptized there on 18 Oct. 1789, six days following his birth. He had several careers, weaver at Largo, factory labourer at Kirkcaldy, station master at St Clairtown on the Fife Railway, and china merchant at St Andrews. By avocation he was a musician, the leader of psalmody in the Church of Scotland at Scoonie. With his wife, Elizabeth Patterson, whom he married at Largo on 22 Dec. 1815, he had eight children. He dedicated his poem Battle of Waterloo to Sir James Stewart Denham of Coltness, colonel of the Scots Greys. In an “Address to the Reader,” he states that his means “of procuring information were not so ample as could have been had by one in a higher sphere.” He died at St Andrews on 5 Oct. 1867, aged 77 years. According to a newspaper obituary, he was “a warm-hearted Liberal,” active in local politics. He composed several long poems, wrote prose and verse for Fife newspapers, and was a correspondent for the Fife Herald. (ancestry.co.uk 30 Apr. 2019; Fife Herald, 10 Oct. 1857) JC