Author: Wight, William
Biography:
WIGHT, William (b 1782: ancestry.co.uk)
He was the son of Isabel (Lamb) and George Wight, and was born at Ednam, Roxburghshire. Disabled from birth (one account says he was born without the lower part of his legs), he lived at home where he was taught to read at the age of ten and neighbours kept him supplied with books. A cousin taught him to write and, inspired by Robert Burns, he began to compose verse. The autobiographical account that prefaces his Cottage Poems says that Mrs. Waldie of Hendersyde helped him to publish one of his poems, “The Tears of Switzerland,” by subscription in 1803. He alternated living in the family cottage at Ednam with visits to his brothers nearby. His mother, who looked after him, died in 1812. His book is dedicated to Miss Waldie of Hendersyde; possibly Charlotte Anne, later Eaton, is meant (she became a novelist and travel writer). No further details of his life or death have been located. (ancestry.co.uk 13 May 2020) SR