William Thom (1788 – 29 February 1848) was a Scottish poet who wrote in the

Scots language Scots ( endonym: ''Scots''; gd, Albais, ) is an Anglic language variety in the West Germanic language family, spoken in Scotland and parts of Ulster in the north of Ireland (where the local dialect is known as Ulster Scots). Most commonly ...

. He was author of ''The Mitherless Bairn'' and other works. He was known as the "Inverury Poet".

Life and work

Thom was a native of

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

, where he worked as a hand-loom weaver, enduring considerable hardship and poverty. He was born in Sinclair's Close, Justice Port, Aberdeen, in 1799 or 1800. His most notable work is ''Blind Boy's Pranks''. In 1841 he published ''Rhymes and Recollections of a Handloom Weaver''.Harmsworth Encyclopedia 1905 A biography of Thom appears in the book ''James Hogg'' by Sir George Douglas (Edinburgh: Oliphant, Anderson & Ferrier, 1899) in the ''

Famous Scots Series Famous may refer to: Companies * Famous Brands, a South African restaurant franchisor * Famous Footwear, an American retail store chain * Famous Music, the music publishing division of Paramount Pictures * Famous Studios, the animation divisi ...

''. Thom died in

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

on 29 February 1848. According to the death record on the site scotlandspeople.gov.uk, Thom died of "consumption" and was interred on 3 March. He is interred at Western Cemetery, Dundee, where a memorial monument was erected by admirers of the poet.

References

1799 births 1848 deaths People from Aberdeen Writers from Aberdeen 19th-century Scottish poets Scots-language poets Poets associated with Dundee {{UK-poet-stub