Author: Lauderdale, John
Biography:
LAUDERDALE, John (b c. 1740: John Lauderdale of Kirkenner)
Although he wrote poems in Scottish dialect, he was born in Antrim, Ireland, and moved to Kirkenner Parish, Wigtownshire, in the late 1780s. He had limited education, served in the military, worked as a quarryman, held strong political views, and was fond of drink. His wife, Mary Conchie, seems to have kept the family together—the couple had three sons, two of whom emigrated to America—while Lauderdale tried out various occupations, including shopkeeper and teacher. He is known to have issued an eight-page chapbook An Address to the Deil by Robert Burns with the answer by John Lauderdale (1795) and may have contributed to other publications. No public records have been located and the date of his death is not known. (Innes Macleod, ed. John Lauderdale of Kirkenner: Poems Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect [1984]) SR