A song-writer of considerable popularity, Thomas C. Latto was born in
1818, in the parish of Kingsbarns, Fifeshire. Instructed in the
elementary branches at the parochial seminary, he entered, in his
fourteenth year, the United College of St Andrews. Having studied during
five sessions at this University, he was in 1838 admitted into the
writing-chambers of Mr John Hunter, W.S., Edinburgh, now Auditor of the
Court of Session. He subsequently became advocate's clerk to Mr William
E. Aytoun, Professor of Rhetoric in the University of Edinburgh. After a
period of employment as a Parliament House clerk, he accepted the
situation of managing clerk to a writer in Dundee. In 1852 he entered
into business as a commission-agent in Glasgow. Subsequently emigrating
to the United States, he has for some years been engaged in mercantile
concerns at New York.
Latto first became known as a song-writer in the pages of
"Whistle-binkie." In 1845 he edited a poem, entitled "The Minister's
Kail-yard," which, with a number of lyrics of his own composition,
appeared in a duodecimo volume. To the "Book of Scottish Song" he made
several esteemed contributions. Verses from his pen have appeared in
_Blackwood's_ and _Tait's Magazines_.