Author: Laing, Alexander
Biography:
Laing, Alexander (1787-1857: ODNB)
He was born at Brechin, Forfarshire, to James Laing and Isabel (Thomson) Laing; his father was an agricultural labourer and, after two years’ schooling, Laing became a cowherd at the age of eight. In the evenings, his mother encouraged his reading and writing. He was apprenticed to a flax dresser and followed this profession until about 1817 when he was permanently disabled by an accident at work. He became a packman in order to earn a living. Known as “the Brechin poet,” Laing made the most of his meagre education: he contributed to periodicals; his ballad, “Archie Allan,” was published as a chapbook; he edited a two-volume collection of Burns’ poems and wrote a life of Robert Tannahill; and his Wayside Flowers (1847) went to several editions. (ODNB 26 Sept 2019; ancestry.co.uk 26 Sept 2019; Robert Chambers, Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Scotsmen [1870])
Other Names:
- Alex. Laing