Papers of two Renfrewshire poets: Robert Tannahill (1774-1810) and William Motherwell (1797-1835), collected by David Robertson, publisher of Motherwell's works

• Common place book, correspondence and literary manuscripts of Robert Tannahill
• Commonplace book, correspondence and literary manuscripts of William Motherwell

Robert Tannahill was born in 1774 in Paisley, Scotland. Educated in Paisley, he was brought up as a silk weaver but is remembered as a song writer and poet. He drowned himself at Paisley in 1810.

William Motherwell was born in 1795. As well as being a poet, he was also Sheriff-clerk depute of Renfrewshire between 1819 and 1829 and became editor of the Paisley Advertiser in 1828. In 1830 he became editor of the Glasgow Courier and in 1832 issued his own works in Poems, Narrative and Lyrical. He died in 1835.

The depositor, David Stephen Robertson, was born in Scotland in 1874. He graduated MA from the University of Glasgow in 1895 and began a career in the army. By the time of the First World War he was a Major in the Royal Scots Fusiliers. He died on 1919 at Tientsin, China, a Lieutenant Colonel in the same regiment. The connection with the Renfrewshire poets came from his family who owned David Robertson, the Glasgow publisher of William Motherwell's works.

Source: Dictionary of National Biography: Index and Epitome (London, 1903)

The arrangement of this material reflects the original order in which it was received

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Deposit : Capt David S Robertson : 1907 : ACCN 1207

See also University of Glasgow Collections

Reproduction subject to usual conditions: educational use and condition of documents. Applications for permission to quote should be sent to Archives and Special Collections, please email: library-asc@glasgow.ac.uk

This material has been appraised in line with standard GB 247 procedures

Not known

None expected

GB 237 La iv 6: Correspondence with David Laing (Edinburgh University Library, Special Collections)