Struthers, John

(1776-1853)

   The son of a shoemaker, he was born at Longcalderwood near East Kilbride, Lanarkshire. Joanna Baillie (see entry) and her mother and her sister, then living nearby, took an interest in young Struthers and encouraged him in his writing. He worked as a shoemaker in Glasgow until 1819, then worked as editorial reader to several publishing houses, including Fullerton. Joanna Baillie introduced him to Sir Walter Scott (see entry), who was much impressed with the young man. From 1833 to 1848 he was librarian of Stirling's public library, Glasgow. The Harp of Caledonia (3 volumes), a good collection of Scottish songs with an appended essay on Scottish song writers, was published in 1819, and a similar anthology, the British Minstrel, appeared in 1821. Struthers wrote many of the lives in Chambers' Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Scotsmen, and also contributed to the Christian Instructor. He died in Glasgow. Some of his other poetry publications: Poems, 1801. Anticipation, 1803. The Poor Man's Sabbath 1804. Dychmont, 1836. Poetical Works, 1850 (with autobiography; 2 volumes). Three of his poems: "House of Mourning," "Sonnet," "The Plough."

   Sources: Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. Great Books Online (www.bartleby.com). Significant and Famous Scots (http://www.electricscotland.com/history/other/struthers_john.htm). The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The Poetical Works of John Struthers: Vol. I. A. Fullarton and Co., 1850.