Author: Shirrefs, Andrew
Biography:
SHIRREFS, Andrew (1762-1807?: ODNB)
Poet and bookseller. He was the son of Jane (or Ann) (Lunan) and David Shirrefs, a carpenter, and was born at Aberdeen. His parents had married on 5 Dec. 1748 at St. Nicholas, Aberdeen. Two of his brothers made names for themselves in Aberdeen—James became the minister of St. Nicholas’s church, and Alexander was president of the Society of Advocates. Like them, Andrew had a good education and he earned his MA from Marischal College in 1783. However, an accident which led to the loss of his legs meant that he turned away from a professional career to become a bookseller and printer at a succession of premises in Aberdeen and in Edinburgh. He started a short-lived newspaper, the Aberdeen Chronicle, in 1787 and published the Caledonian Magazine (1786-90). He was also a musician and his Forty Pieces of Original Music was published in 1786. In 1791 he went to Edinburgh where he had a shop on Castle Hill and where his ballad opera, Jamie and Bess, was staged for his benefit (he is said to have performed one of the songs). Another play, “The Sons of Britannia,” was likely staged in 1796 but was never printed. The Scottish Book Trade Index states that he married Margaret Leslie, daughter of a flaxdresser, in Aberdeen on 1 June 1792: they had one, child, a daughter. In about 1798 they left Scotland for London and on 12 Jan. 1799 a John Calder wrote to the RLF recommending him for support. He was awarded £10 and his acknowledgement of the grant is addressed from Lisson Grove, London. In 1802 he was awarded a further £10; at that time he was living in Moorfields, London. ODNB gives a possible death date of 1807 but no record has been located. (ODNB 28 Sept. 2020; ancestry.co.uk 28 Sept. 2020; DWS; SBTI; RLF file 70) SR