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. Laing was born on 14 May 1787 and baptised on 20 May. 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. Laing died on 14 Oct. 1857 and was buried at Brechin cathedral. (ODNB 26 Sept 2019; ancestry.co.uk 26 Sept 2019, 23 Dec. 2024; Robert Chambers, Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Scotsmen [1870]; D. H. Edwards, The Poetry of Scottish Rural Life or a Sketch of the Life and Writings of Alexander Laing [1874]) SR
Other Names:
- Alex. Laing