An accomplished antiquary, and writer of verses, William Dobie was born
in 1790, in the village of Beith, Ayrshire. Educated at the parish
school, he was in his thirteenth year apprenticed to a mechanical
profession. At the close of his apprenticeship, he commenced business in
his native district. In 1822, the munificence of a wealthy relative
enabled him to retire from his occupation, which had proved unsuitable
to his tastes. For several years he resided in London. He subsequently
made a tour through Britain, and visited the Continent. His
"Perambulations in Kintyre," a manuscript volume, is frequently quoted
by Mr Cosmo Innes, in his "Origines Parochiales Scotiæ," a valuable work
printed for the Bannatyne Club. In 1840 he prepared a history of the
parish of Kilbirnie, for the "New Statistical Account." He afterwards
published an account of the church and churchyard of Kilbirnie, in an
interesting pamphlet. Recently Mr Dobie has superintended the erection
of a monument to Sir William Wallace, on Barnweil Hill, near Kilmarnock,
which has been reared at the entire cost of William Patrick, Esq., of
Roughwood. The greater number of the many spirited inscriptions on the
monument are the composition of Mr Dobie.