Skinner, John

(1721-1807)

   Born at Balfour, Aberdeenshire, the son of a schoolmaster, he was educated at Marischal College, Aberdeen, then took orders in the Scottish Episcopal Church in 1742 and settled at Longside, Aberdenshire. At the 1745 Rebellion, Skinner's church was destroyed and he was imprisoned for six months because he preached to more than four people. Robert Burns secured several of Skinner's best songs for James Johnson's Musical Museum (1787). His second son, John, was Bishop of Aberdeen (1788) and while staying with him, the old man died, eight years after his wife, and was buried at Longside. He was the author of Ecclesiastical History of Scotland (1788), and his Theological Works, with a biography, were published by his son in 1809. Amusements of Leisure Hours, or Poetical Pieces Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect and Miscellaneous Collection of Fugitive Pieces of Poetry were both published in 1809. Songs and Poems, with a sketch of his life, was published in 1859. Some of his songs/poems: "An Auld Minister's Song," "Lizzy Liberty," "On Bruns' Address to a Louse," "The Monymusk Christmas Ba'ing [football]," "The Owl and the Ass," "Tullochgorum."

   Sources: Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. English Poetry: Author Search. Chadwyck-Healey Ltd., 1995 (http://www.lib.utexas.edu:8080/search/epoetry/author.html). Songs and Poems of John Skinner. G Reid, 1859. The Burns Encyclopedia, John Skinner (http://www.robertburns.org/encyclopedia/CunninghamAllan17841511842.253.shtml). The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org).