Author: Rodger, Alexander
Biography:
RODGER, Alexander (1784-1846: ODNB)
He was born in East Calder, Midlothian, to Alexander Rodger and his wife whose name is not known. The date usually given for his birth is 16 July 1784 but no birth or baptismal records have been found. His father leased several farms in Dalmahoy from the Earl of Morton but fell behind in his rent; in Jan. 1784 the Earl advertised for new tenants and held a public meeting of Rodger’s creditors. This as much as the ill-health of Alexander Rodger’s mother likely accounts for why he was boarded away from the family during his early years. By about 1791 his father was operating an inn in Mid-Calder and sent for his son to live at home; Rodger was then able to attend school and be apprenticed to an Edinburgh silversmith. However, his father soon got into financial difficulties again and fled to Hamburg while Rodger moved to Glasgow to live with his mother’s family. He took up weaving and in 1803 joined the Glasgow Highland Volunteers. On 18 May 1806 he married Agnes Turner; they had numerous children. Rodger worked as a weaver and he also wrote and taught music. In 1819 he was briefly associated with a radical newspaper, Spirit of the Union, and he was imprisoned on suspicion of sedition. This did not hold him back: although he continued writing revolutionary songs he was appointed inspector of cloths at the Barrowfield printworks in 1821. On his retirement in 1832, he returned to working in the newspaper trade. He died at Glasgow on 26 Sept. 1844 and was buried in the Necropolis where his grave overlooks Drygate Bridge (one of his poems is “The Drygate Brig. A monument to him was erected in 1848 and has an inscription by William Kennedy (q.v.). Other publications include Poems and Songs (1838) and Stray Leaves (1842). He also collaborated with John Donald Carrick in some of the Whistle-Binkie (1839-46) series of Scottish lyrics. (ODNB 7 Oct. 2021; “Scottish Literature,” Hogg’s Weekly Instructor 5 [1847] 379-80; Reports of Cases Decided in the House of Lords: Upon Appeal from Scotland 3 [1853] 145-47; Caledonian Mercury 17 Jan. 1784) SR