Author: Struthers, John
Biography:
STRUTHERS, John (1776-1853: ODNB)
The second son of Elizabeth (Scott) and William Struthers, a shoemaker, he was born at Longcalderwood, East Kilbride, Lanarkshire. His autobiography records his poor health in childhood when, having learned his alphabet from his mother, he was patronised by the mother of Joanna Baillie (q.v.) who then lived in Longcalderwood. He was educated at the parish school and became a cowherd and farm servant. At the age of fifteen he went to Glasgow to learn shoemaking and, in 1793, returned to work at his trade in Longcalderwood. In 1798 he married (his first wife’s name is unknown) and in 1801 they moved to Glasgow. His autobiography traces the various influences that encouraged him to begin writing poetry, and Walter Scott (q.v.) assisted in ensuring the publication of his books. He wrote the prefatory material for William Muir’s (q.v.) Poems (1818) and helped to see the book through the press. He also edited The Harp of Caledonia (1819) and The British Minstrel (1821). His wife and two of his children died in quick succession in 1818, and in 1819 he married Cecilia Morton (d 1847); his autobiography makes clear that the first marriage was a love match but the second was for practical reasons. He gave up shoemaking to work as a reader and corrector in the printing offices successively of Khull, Blackie, and Co., and Archibald Fullarton. In 1833 he was appointed librarian at the Stirling Library in Glasgow. He died at Glasgow, predeceased by his wife. His other publications include two volumes of A History of Scotland from the Union (1827); a treatise on voluntaryism, Tekel (1831); and a descriptive poem, Dychmont (1836). He contributed the autobiography to his two-volume Poetical Works (1850). (ODNB 30 Oct. 2020; Poetical Works of John Struthers [1850]; NLS, Walter Scott letters)