Digital Victorian Periodical Poetry

Translator. Pseudonym: Shagird. Born in Monimail, Fifeshire. Educated at local schools, and learned Latin and Greek. Apprentice to a printer in Cupar, Fife, where he also learned Italian. Educated at the University of St. Andrews. Moved to Dublin, Ireland. Editor of the local newspaper Saunders’ News-Letter. Learned Spanish and German. Returned to Scotland and became a teacher at a private school in Kirkaldy. Enlisted as a soldier for the East India Company and was sent to Bombay (1814). Learned Hindustani (Hindostanee). Returned to Scotland due to ill health (1816). Contributed to the Caledonian Magazine and Chamber’s Edinburgh Journal. Editor of the Fife Herald (1829-1831). Biographical information: Strout 173; The Popular Scottish Biography: Being Lives of Eminent Scotsmen, part. 1, The Edinburgh Printing and Publishing Co., 1841, pp. 572-73. (AC, CC)