William Thom, commonly styled "The Inverury Poet," was born at Aberdeen
in 1789. His father, who was a shopkeeper, dying during his infancy, he
was placed by his mother at a school taught by a female, from whom he
received the greater amount of his juvenile education. At the age of
ten, he was put to a cotton-factory, where he served an apprenticeship
of four years. He was subsequently employed, during a period of nearly
twenty years, in the large weaving-factory of Gordon, Barron, & Co. In
1827, he removed to Dundee; and shortly after to the village of Newtyle,
in Strathmore, at both of these places working as a hand-loom weaver.
Thrown out of employment, in consequence of a stagnation in the
manufacturing world, he was subjected, in his person and family, to much
penury and suffering. At length, disposing of his articles of household
furniture, he purchased a few wares, and taking his wife and children
along with him, commenced the precarious life of a pedlar. In his
published "Recollections," he has supplied a heart-rending narrative of
the privations attendant on his career as a wanderer; his lodgings were
frequently in the farmer's barn, and, on one of these occasions, one of
his children perished from cold and starvation. The contents of his pack
becoming exhausted, he derived the means of subsistence by playing on
the flute, and disposing of copies of verses. After wandering over a
wide district as a pedlar, flute-player, and itinerant poet, he resumed
his original occupation of weaving in Kinross. He subsequently sought
employment as a weaver in Aberdeen, where he remained about a year. In
1840 he proceeded to Inverury; and it was while he was resident in this
place that his beautiful stanzas, entitled "The Blind Boy's Pranks,"
appeared in the columns of the _Aberdeen Herald_ newspaper. These verses
were copied into many of the public journals: they particularly arrested
the attention of Mr Gordon of Knockespock, a landed proprietor in
Aberdeenshire, who, ascertaining the indigent circumstances of the
author, transmitted to him a handsome donation, and desired to form his
personal acquaintance. The poet afterwards accompanied Mr Gordon to
London, who introduced him as a man of genius to the fashionable and
literary circles of the metropolis. In 1844 he published a small volume
of poems and songs, with a brief autobiography, under the title of
"Rhymes and Recollections of a Hand-loom Weaver." This volume was well
received; and on a second visit to London, Thom was entertained at a
public dinner by many distinguished literary persons of the metropolis.
From admirers, both in India and America, he received pecuniary
acknowledgments of his genius. He now attempted to establish himself in
London in connexion with the press, but without success. Returning to
Scotland, he took up his abode in Dundee; where, after a period of
distress and penury, he breathed his last on the 29th February 1848, in
his 59th year. His remains were interred in the public cemetery of the
town; and it is pleasing to add, that an enthusiastic admirer of his
genius has planted flowers upon his grave. Though long in publishing,
Thom early wrote verses; in Gordon, Barron, & Co.'s factory in
Aberdeen, his fellow-workmen were astonished and interested by the power
and vigour of his poems. That he did not publish sooner, is probably
attributable to his lengthened career of poverty, and his carelessness
regarding intellectual honours.
In respect of pure and simple pathos, some of his lyrics are unequalled
among the compositions of any of the national bards. Than "The
Mitherless Bairn," it may be questioned whether there is to be found in
the language any lyrical composition more delicately plaintive. It is
lamentable to think that one who could write so tenderly should, by a
dissolute life, have been the author of many of his own misfortunes, and
a constant barrier to every attempt for his permanent elevation in the
social circle. In person, he was rather below the middle stature; his
countenance was thoughtful, but marked with the effects of bodily
suffering. Owing to a club-foot, his gait was singularly awkward. He
excelled in conversation, and his manner was pleasing and conciliatory.