Author: Cock, James
Biography:
COCK, James (1752- c 1820: Simple Strains [1820])
He was born at Elgin, Moray, but the names of his parents are not known. The family was poor and his early education was limited. He trained to be a weaver. In 1771 he set sail for America but his ship was soon driven by wind into Orkney, and he returned home to Elgin. There, in about 1775, he married (his wife’s name is not known); of eight children, four pre-deceased their parents. He travelled for employment before settling in Grandholm Mills, near Aberdeen. He began writing poetry in 1806 to ease the family’s financial distress when he was suffering “under a complaint of the stone” and, meeting with success, issued his second collection in 1810. His autobiographical sketch was left in manuscript to be printed with any posthumous edition of his poetry; he must, then, have died by 1820. The sketch comments bitterly on the hard labour of weaving and the difficulty of earning enough to survive illness and old age. SR