Poet, composer, cabinetmaker, and piano and organ maker. Father of Annie Walker Gardiner.
Born in Upper Hallhills, Applegarth, Dumfriesshire. Spent his childhood in Burnfoot,
Sibbaldie. Apprentinced in cabinetmaking. Moved to Glasgow and went into the piano
and organ making business with his brother. Contributed to *Whistle Binkie*, *Lays
of St. Mungo*, and *Nursery Songs*. Returned to Dryfe in 1848. Helped establish the
Sibbaldbie Library. Superintendent of the local Sabbath School. *Chambers’s Journal*
ledger entry for “Bonnie Dryfe,” published on 16 January 1886 and signed “William
Gardiner,” gives the author as Miss A. Gardiner, of Lockerbie (NLS Dep 341/369), presumably
his daughter Annie Walker Gardiner. Biographical information: David Herschell Edwards,
*Modern Scottish Poets*, ninth series, D. H. Edwards, 1886, pp. 248-55; David Herschell
Edwards, *One Hundred Modern Scottish Poets With Biographical and Critical Notice*,
sixteenth series, D. H. Edwards, 1897, p. 141. (AC, CC)