William Cameron was born on the 3d December 1801, in the parish of
Dunipace, and county of Stirling. His father was employed successively
in woollen factories at Dumfries, Dalmellington, and Dunipace. He
subsequently became proprietor of woollen manufactories at Slamannan,
Stirlingshire, and at Blackburn and Torphichen, in the county of
Linlithgow. While receiving an education with a view to the ministry,
the death of his father in 1819 was attended with an alteration in his
prospects, and he was induced to accept the appointment of schoolmaster
at the village of Armadale, parish of Bathgate. In 1836 he resigned this
situation, and removed to Glasgow, where he has since prosperously
engaged in mercantile concerns. Of the various lyrics which have
proceeded from his pen, "Jessie o' the Dell" is an especial favourite.
The greater number of his songs, arranged with music, appear in the
"Lyric Gems of Scotland," a respectable collection of minstrelsy
published in Glasgow.