Author: Paul, Hamilton
Biography:
PAUL, Hamilton (1773-1854: ODNB)
Born at Dailly, Ayrshire, he was the son of John Paul but his mother’s name is not known. He was educated at the parish school and the University of Glasgow where he befriended Thomas Campbell (q.v.) and was known for writing poetry. On leaving university he became a tutor but then purchased a share in the Ayr Advertiser and managed the paper for three years before being licensed to preach in 1800. Beginning with a position at Colyton he held various church posts until he was appointed minister at Broughton, Kilbucho, and Glenholm, Peeblesshire. His defence of Robert Burns’s religion and some of his more controversial poems in his 1819 edition of Burns’s poems drew criticism from the church and in a review by Dr. Andrew Thompson in The Christian Instructor. An ardent supporter of the Burns Club, he helped to ensure the preservation of the Auld Brig o' Doon which Tam o’Shanter races across. He never married and died at Broughton. (ODNB 24 June 2020; James Gibson, The Bibliography of Robert Burns [1881]) SR