Lochore, Robert

(1762-1852)

   Scottish poet, born at Strathaven, Lanarkshire, he became a shoemaker at the age of thirteen and ultimately had a successful business in Glasgow, where he was well known for his philanthropy and generosity. He died in Glasgow, leaving unpublished an autobiography and various Scottish tales and poems. In 1795 he published Willie's Vision and The Foppish Taylor, two poetical tracts. About 1815 he published anonymously Tales in Rhyme and Minor Pieces, in the Scottish Dialect. His poem Last Speech of the Auld Brig of Glasgow on Being Condemned to Be Taken Down -circulated as a broadsheet in 1850also appeared in the Reformers' Gazette of 1850. His poems are valuable illustrations of Scottish life and character, one of them being "Marriage and the Care o't."

   Sources: Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. 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 Home Book of Verse for Young Folks. Burton Egbert Stevenson, ed. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1929. The Home Book of Verse. Burton Egbert Stevenson, ed. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1953.