Author: Picken, Andrew Belfrage
Biography:
PICKEN, Andrew Belfrage (1802-49: ODNB)
The son of Ebenezer Picken (q.v.) and Robina Belfrage, he was born in Edinburgh. Nothing is known about his education but around 1827 he had the misfortune to fall in with the unscrupulous adventurer Gregor MacGregor, becoming his private secretary and, likely, moving to London. With the gradual exposure of MacGregor’s fraudulent enterprise on the Mosquito Coast in Central America, Picken was financially ruined and made his way back to Edinburgh. There he contributed to periodicals and worked as an actor before emigrating to Canada with his brother, Henry, in 1830. They were joined by two of their sisters in 1842. He worked as an artist in Montreal and died there. He is not to be confused with Andrew Picken, a novelist also from Paisley. (ODNB [under Ebenezer Picken] 3 July 2020; ancestry.co.uk 3 July 2020)
Other Names:
- A. B. P.