Author: THOMSON, Samuel
Biography:
THOMSON, Samuel (1766-1816: DIB)
He was born on 25 May 1766 near Templepatrick, County Antrim, but the names of his parents are not known. He was of Scots Presbyterian descent and spoke “Ullans” or Ulster Scots. Nothing is known about his education but he became a schoolmaster at Carngranny, near Lyleshill, Antrim, and published verse in Belfast newspapers using pseudonyms including “Carngranny.” He admired Robert Burns (q.v.)—his first book is dedicated to him—and visited Burns in Dumfries in 1794. His letters to friends including James Orr, William Hamilton Drummond, Alexander Kemp, and Aeneas Lamont (qq.v.) survive in the Trinity College Dublin library and give a glimpse of the fertile connections among these Ulster-Scots writers. He wrote for the radical Northern Star in Belfast and supported the aims of the United Irishmen but there is no evidence for his active involvement in the 1798 rebellion. He died on 1 June 1816. Recent interest in his life and his verse has led to the publication of some of his verse (1992) and correspondence (2012). (DIB; Goodridge; Jennifer Orr, “Fostering an Irish Writers’ Circle: A Revisionist Reading of the Life and Works of Samuel Thomson, an Ulster Poet (1766-1816)” Unpublished PhD thesis [2011]) SR