William Motherwell was born in High Street, Glasgow, on the 13th October
1797. For thirteen generations, his paternal ancestors were owners of
the small property of Muirsmill, on the banks of the Carron,
Stirlingshire. His father, who bore the same Christian name, carried on
the business of an ironmonger in Glasgow. His mother, whose maiden name
was Elizabeth Barnet, was the daughter of a prosperous farmer in the
parish of Auchterarder, Perthshire, from whom she inherited a
considerable fortune. Of a family of six, William was the third son. His
parents removed to Edinburgh early in the century; and in April 1805, he
became a pupil of Mr William Lennie, a successful private teacher in
Crichton Street. In October 1808, he entered the High-school of
Edinburgh; but was soon after placed at the Grammar-school of Paisley,
being entrusted to the care of an uncle in that place. In his fifteenth
year, he became clerk in the office of the Sheriff-clerk of Paisley, and
in this situation afforded evidence of talent by the facility with which
he deciphered the more ancient documents. With the view of obtaining a
more extended acquaintance with classical literature, he attended the
Latin and Greek classes in the University of Glasgow, during the session
of 1818-19, and had the good fortune soon thereafter to receive the
appointment of Sheriff-clerk-depute of the county of Renfrew.
From his boyhood fond of literature, Motherwell devoted his spare hours
to reading and composition. He evinced poetical talent so early as his
fourteenth year, when he produced the first draught of his beautiful
ballad of "Jeanie Morrison." Many of his earlier sketches, both in prose
and verse, were inconsiderately distributed among his friends. In 1818,
he made some contributions in verse to the "Visitor," a small work
published at Greenock; and in the following year became the third and
last editor of the "Harp of Renfrewshire," an esteemed collection of
songs, to which he supplied an interesting introductory essay and many
valuable notes. Pursuing his researches on the subject of Scottish song
and ballad, he appeared in 1827 as the editor of an interesting quarto
volume, entitled "Minstrelsy, Ancient and Modern,"--a work which
considerably extended his reputation, and secured him the friendly
correspondence of Sir Walter Scott. In 1828, he originated the _Paisley
Magazine_, which was conducted by him during its continuance of one
year; it contains several of his best poetical compositions, and a copy
is now extremely rare. During the same year, he was appointed editor of
the _Paisley Advertiser_, a Conservative newspaper; and this office he
exchanged, in January 1830, for the editorship of the _Glasgow Courier_,
a more influential journal in the same political interests.
On his removal to Glasgow, Motherwell rapidly extended the circle of his
literary friends, and began to exercise no unimportant influence as a
public journalist. To _The Day_, a periodical published in the city in
1832, he contributed many poetical pieces with some prose sketches; and
about the same time furnished a preface of some length to a volume of
Scottish Proverbs, edited by his ingenious friend, Andrew Henderson.
Towards the close of 1832, he collected his best poetical compositions
into a small volume, with the title of "Poems, Narrative and Lyrical."
In 1835, he became the coadjutor of the Ettrick Shepherd in annotating
an edition of Burns' Works, published by Messrs Fullarton of Glasgow;
but his death took place before the completion of this undertaking. He
died of apoplexy, after a few hours' illness, on the 1st of November
1835, at the early age of thirty-eight. His remains were interred in the
Necropolis, where an elegant monument, with a bust by Fillans, has been
erected to his memory.
Motherwell was of short stature, but was well-formed. His head was large
and forehead ample, but his features were somewhat coarse; his
cheek-bones were prominent, and his eyes small, sunk in his head, and
surmounted by thick eye-lashes. In society he was reserved and often
taciturn, but was free and communicative among his personal friends. He
was not a little superstitious, and a firm believer in the reality of
spectral illusions. Desultory in some of his literary occupations, he
was laborious in pruning and perfecting his poetical compositions. His
claims as a poet are not inconsiderable; "Jeanie Morrison" is
unsurpassed in graceful simplicity and feeling, and though he had not
written another line, it had afforded him a title to rank among the
greater minstrels of his country. Eminent pathos and earnestness are his
characteristics as a song-writer. The translations of Scandinavian
ballads which he has produced are perhaps the most vigorous and
successful efforts of the kind which have appeared in the language. An
excellent edition of his poetical works, with a memoir by Dr M'Conechy,
was published after his death by Mr David Robertson of Glasgow.