Thomas Mounsey Cunningham, an elder brother of Allan Cunningham, is
entitled to commemoration among the modern song-writers of his country.
His ancestors were lords of that district of Ayrshire which still bears
their family name; and a small inheritance in that county, which
belonged to his more immediate progenitors, was lost to the name and
race by the head of the family having espoused the cause and joined the
army of the Duke of Montrose. For several generations his forefathers
were farmers at Gogar, in the parish of Ratho, Midlothian. John
Cunningham, his father, was born at Gogar on the 26th March 1743, whence
he removed in his twenty-third year to fill the situation of
land-steward on the estate of Lumley, in the parish of Chester, and
county of Durham. He next became overseer on the property of Mr Mounsey
of Ramerscales, near Lochmaben, Dumfriesshire. He married Elizabeth
Harley, a lady of good connexions and of elegant personal
accomplishments, and with the view of acquiring a more decided
independence in his new condition, took in lease the farm of Culfaud, in
the stewartry of Kirkcudbright. Of a family of ten, Thomas was the
second son; he was born at Culfaud on the 25th June 1776. During his
infancy the farming speculations of his father proved unfortunate, and
the lease of Culfaud was abandoned. Returning to his former occupation
as a land-steward, John Cunningham was employed in succession by the
proprietors of Barncaillie and Collieston, and latterly by the
ingenious Mr Miller of Dalswinton.
Thomas was educated at the village-school of Kellieston, and
subsequently at the academy of Dumfries. The circumstances of his
parents required that he should choose a manual profession; and he was
apprenticed by his own desire to a neighbouring mill-wright. It was
during his intervals of leisure, while acquiring a knowledge of this
laborious occupation, that he first essayed the composition of verses;
he submitted his poems to his father, who mingled judicious criticism
with words of encouragement. "The Har'st Home," one of his earliest
pieces of merit, was privileged with insertion in the series of "Poetry,
Original and Selected," published by Brash & Reid, booksellers in
Glasgow. Proceeding to England in 1797, he entered the workshop of a
mill-wright in Rotherham. Under the same employer he afterwards pursued
his craft at King's Lynn; in 1800 he removed to Wiltshire, and soon
after to the neighbourhood of Cambridge. He next received employment at
Dover, and thence proceeded to London, where he occupied a situation in
the establishment of Rennie, the celebrated engineer. He afterwards
became foreman to one Dickson, an engineer, and superintendent of
Fowler's chain-cable manufactory. In 1812 he returned to Rennie's
establishment as a clerk, with a liberal salary. On leaving his father's
house to seek his fortune in the south, he had been strongly counselled
by Mr Miller of Dalswinton to abjure the gratification of his poetical
tendencies, and he seems to have resolved on the faithful observance of
this injunction. For a period of nine years his muse was silent; at
length, in 1806, he appeared in the _Scots Magazine_ as the contributor
of some of the best verses which had ever adorned the pages of that
periodical. The editor was eloquent in his commendations; and the
Ettrick Shepherd, who was already a contributor to the magazine, took
pains to discover the author, and addressed him a lengthened poetical
epistle, expressive of his admiration. A private intimacy ensued between
the two rising poets; and when the Shepherd, in 1809, planned the
"Forest Minstrel," he made application to his ingenious friend for
contributions. Cunningham sanctioned the republication of such of his
lyrics as had appeared in the _Scots Magazine_, and these proved the
best ornaments of the work.
Impatient of criticism, and of a whimsical turn of mind, Cunningham was
incapable of steadfastly pursuing the career of a man of letters. Just
as his name was becoming known by his verses in the _Scots Magazine_, he
took offence at some incidental allusions to his style, and suddenly
stopped his contributions. Silent for a second period of nine years, the
circumstance of the appropriation of one of his songs in the "Nithsdale
Minstrel," a provincial collection of poetry, published at Dumfries,
again aroused him to authorship. He made the publishers the subject of a
satirical poem in the _Scots Magazine_ of 1815. On the origin of the
_Edinburgh Magazine_, in 1817, he became a contributor, and under the
title of the "Literary Legacy," wrote many curious snatches of
antiquities, sketches of modern society, and scraps of song and ballad,
which imparted a racy interest to the pages of the new periodical. A
slight difference with the editor at length induced him to relapse into
silence. Fitful and unsettled as a cultivator of literature, he was in
the business of life a model of regularity and perseverance. He was much
esteemed by his employer, and was ultimately promoted to the chief
clerkship in his establishment. He fell a victim to the Asiatic cholera
on the 28th October 1834, in the 58th year of his age. During his latter
years he was in the habit of examining at certain intervals the MSS. of
prose and poetry, which at a former period he had accumulated. On those
occasions he uniformly destroyed some which he deemed unworthy of
further preservation. During one of these purgations, he hastily
committed to the flames a poem on which he had bestowed much labour, and
which contained a humorous description of scenes and characters familiar
to him in youth. The poem was entitled "Braken Fell;" and his ingenious
brother Allan, in a memoir of the author, has referred to its
destruction in terms of regret.[105] The style of Thomas Cunningham
seems, however, to have been lyrical, and it may be presumed that his
songs afford the best evidence of his power. In private life he was much
cherished by a circle of friends, and his society was gay and animated.
He was rather above the middle height, and latterly was corpulent. He
married in 1804, and has left a family.
[105] See _Scottish Monthly Magazine_, August 1836.