David Vedder was the son of a small landowner in the parish of Burness,
Orkney, where he was born in 1790. He had the misfortune to lose both
his parents ere he had completed his twelfth year, and was led to choose
the nautical profession. At the age of twenty-two, he obtained the rank
of captain of a vessel, in which he performed several voyages to
Greenland. In 1815, he entered the revenue service as first officer of
an armed cruiser, and in five years afterwards was raised to the post of
tide-surveyor. He first discharged the duties of this office at
Montrose, and subsequently at the ports of Kirkcaldy, Dundee, and Leith.
A writer of verses from his boyhood, Vedder experienced agreeable
relaxation from his arduous duties as a seaman, in the invocation of the
muse. He sung of the grandeur and terrors of the ocean. His earlier
compositions were contributed to some of the northern newspapers; but
before he attained his majority, his productions found admission into
the periodicals. In 1826, he published "The Covenanter's Communion, and
other Poems," a work which was very favourably received. His reputation
as a poet was extended by the publication, in 1832, of a second volume,
under the title of "Orcadian Sketches." This work, a _melange_ of prose
and poetry, contains some of his best compositions in verse; and several
of the prose sketches are remarkable for fine and forcible description.
In 1839, he edited the "Poetical Remains of Robert Fraser," prefaced
with an interesting memoir.
Immediately on the death of Sir Walter Scott, Vedder published a memoir
of that illustrious person, which commanded a ready and wide
circulation. In 1842, he gave to the world an edition of his collected
poems, in an elegant duodecimo volume. In 1848, he supplied the
letterpress for a splendid volume, entitled "Lays and Lithographs,"
published by his son-in-law, Mr Frederick Schenck of Edinburgh, the
distinguished lithographer. His last work was a new English version of
the quaint old story of "Reynard the Fox," which was published with
elegant illustrations. To many of the more popular magazines and serials
he was in the habit of contributing; articles from his pen adorned the
pages of _Constable's Edinburgh Magazine_, the _Edinburgh Literary
Journal_, the _Edinburgh Literary Gazette_, the _Christian Herald_,
_Tait's Magazine_, and _Chambers's Journal_. He wrote the letterpress
for Geikie's volume of "Etchings," and furnished songs for George
Thomson's "Musical Miscellany," Blackie's "Book of Scottish Song," and
Robertson's "Whistlebinkie." At the time of his death, he was engaged in
the preparation of a ballad on the subject of the persecutions of the
Covenanters. In 1852, he was placed upon the retired list of revenue
officers, and thereafter established his residence in Edinburgh. He died
at Newington, in that city, on the 11th February 1854, in his 64th year.
His remains were interred in the Southern Cemetery.
Considerably above the middle height, Vedder was otherwise of massive
proportions, while his full open countenance was much bronzed by
exposure to the weather. Of beneficent dispositions and social habits,
he enjoyed the friendship of many of his gifted contemporaries.
Thoroughly earnest, his writings partake of the bold and straightforward
nature of his character. Some of his prose productions are admirable
specimens of vigorous composition; and his poetry, if not characterised
by uniformity of power, never descends into weakness. Triumphant in
humour, he is eminently a master of the plaintive; his tender pieces
breathe a deep-toned cadence, and his sacred lyrics are replete with
devotional fervour. His Norse ballads are resonant with the echoes of
his birth-land, and his songs are to be remarked for their deep pathos
and genuine simplicity.