Author: Motherwell, William
Biography:
MOTHERWELL, William (1797-1835: ODNB)
pseudonym Isaac Brown
Poet, ballad collector, editor. He was born in Glasgow to William Motherwell and his wife Janet (Barnet). His father, an ironmonger, went bankrupt in 1801 and the family moved to Edinburgh where he went to school, first at William Lennie’s before briefly attending the High School. He was then sent to a wealthy uncle in Paisley where he attended the grammar school. After an apprenticeship as a clerk in the sheriff-clerk’s office, he studied classics for one term (1818-19) at Glasgow University and, in 1819, was appointed sheriff-clerk depute for Renfrewshire—a post he held until 1829. His youthful radicalism gave way to toryism and he served in both the Paisley volunteer rifle corps and the Renfrewshire yeomanry cavalry. He began writing and publishing poetry early in life but it is as a scholarly collector and sensitive editor of ballads that he is best remembered. He was also involved in journalism: he founded the Paisley Magazine in 1828, the same year he began editing the Paisley Advertiser. In 1830 he moved to Glasgow to edit the tory Courier and he also contributed poems to a short-lived periodical, The Day. Although not Irish, he became heavily involved with the Orange order and, in 1835, he was summoned to London to give evidence to the House of Commons select committee investigating the activities of the order. He broke down under examination, possibly because of the impending cerebral haemorrhage which killed him a few months after his return to Glasgow. He was buried in the Glasgow necropolis where a bust and memorial were subsequently erected. At the time of his death he had amassed a significant library. His poetical works were issued with a memoir by James McConechy in 1847. (ODNB 13 Apr 2020; James McConechy, “Memoir”)