Robert Tannahill | Laboring-Class Poets Online

Robert Tannahill (1774-1810), a Scottish poet

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Names

First Name:

Robert

Last Name(s):

Tannahill

Gender:

male

Bio Dates

Birth Year:

1774

Death Year:

1810

Cause of Death:

suicide

drowning

Death Description:

In the weeks leading up to his death, Tannahill "was sinking under constitutional disease, and the symptoms of aberration of mind were developing. His mental strength has been overworked, and his mind, like a musical chord brought to its fullest tension, was ready to snap" (lxxxiv). Tannahill, most likely suffering from depression, drowned himself in a culvert (Candren Burn) near his home early on Thursday, 17 May 1810.

Locations

Nationality:

Scottish

Birthplace:

Paisley, Renfrewshire

Other Locations:

Lochwinnoch

Bolton, Lancashire

Transatlantic:

No

Class and Labor

Industry:

Textiles

Occupation:

weaver

Began working at age:

12

Disability and Illness:

crippled or lame

depression

other illness

Disability and Illness Description:

"A sickly child during his infant years, with a delicate constitution, he endured considerable pain. The careful attention bestowed in the nursing of his tender frame established his health and strengthened his body. A slight bend in the right foot was strengthened, and the slender appearance overcome by the simple contrivance of wearing additional stockings." (Semple xlii)

Later in life, poor health, aggravated by drinking with admirers; possible depression, linked to publication rejection

Politics and Religion

Affiliations:

freemason

radical

Possible freemason; McLaren's biography states that Tannahill joined a lodge the Sunday or Monday before his death. Semple investigated these claims, and states that "nothing of the kind can be found in the books of any Masonic Lodge in Paisley or Kilbarchan" (lxxxiii)

Tannahill's level of radicalism is debated; see Ferguson 2011.

Education

Education Types:

Village school

Formal Education:

Some formal education

Formal Education Start Age:

6

Formal Education End Age:

12

"Tannahill did not distinguish himself in school from the other boys and girls on the forms, but it has been said that at ten years of age he astonished his schoolmates in attempting impromptu rhyming and making verses on the public characters in town or on a curious boy at school" (Semple xliv)

References and Sources

References and Sources:

Biblio Texts:

II 73-86

xxxii-xliv

I, 501-8

85

Items 334, 892-3

296-9

I, 86-95

38-52, 373

II, 73-86

679-80

922

Other Digital References:

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

Robert Tannahill Commemoration Website

Transforming Robert Tannahill

Other Analog References:

Ferguson, Jim (2011) A weaver in wartime: a biographical study and the letters of Paisley weaver-poet Robert Tannahill (1774-1810). PhD thesis, University of Glasgow. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/2395/

Semple, David. The Poems and Songs and Correspondence of Robert Tannahill; with Life and Notes by David Semple. Paisley: Alexander Gardner, 1876.

Manuscript Information:

MS Robertson (University of Glasgow Special Collections) is "a collection of holograph poems and letters of two Renfrewshire poets: Robert Tannahill (1774-1810) and William Motherwell (1797 1835), from the collection of David Robertson, Glasgow, publisher of Motherwell's works." This collections contains many of Tannahill's letters and poem drafts, some of which were not previously published in Semple (1876). Editions that include some or all of these pieces include Jim Ferguson, "A weaver in wartime: a biographical study and the letters of Paisley weaver-poet Robert Tannahill (1774-1810)", and Cole Crawford, Transforming Robert Tannahill.

Robert Tannahill's Publications

Title	Publication Date	Publisher	Edition	Other Editions	Editor	Collaborator	Patron	Subscription Description	Key Subscribers	Pages	Call Number	Dialect	Language	Digitized or Digital Editions	Additional Notes
The Soldier's Return; A Scottish Interlude in Two Acts: with other Poems and Songs, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect	1807	Stephen Young		Edition Title: The Soldier's Return; A Scottish Interlude in Two Acts: with other Poems and Songs, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect Edition: 2 Location: Paisley, Renfrewshire Publication Date: 1822 Digitized or Digital Editions: Archive.org Other Information: Reprint of 1807 edition								Scots			The National Library of Scotland has a first edition copy of The Soldier's Return ... (1807).
Poems and Songs, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect	1815	Gale, Curtis & Fenner, Archibald Constable & Co., H. Crichton		Edition Title: Poems and Songs, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect Edition: 2 Location: Edinburgh London Paisley, Renfrewshire Publisher: Longman, Rees, Orme, & Brown (Green, Hurst) Gale, Curtis & Fenner Archibald Constable & Co. John Smith & Son H. Crichton Publication Date: 1815	John Muir							Scots

Personal Map

Relationships

Source	Relationship Type	Target	Description	View
James Hogg	knew	Robert Tannahill	"Hogg had been in the Highlands on business ... and Paisley not being far off their way, Hogg expressed a desire to see Tannahill, the Weaver Poet of Paisley ... [James] Barr has said Hogg was enraptured with their company, and it was a treat to see the friendship of the two bards. The contrast was striking - the one healthly, lively, and off-hand; the other delicate, quiet, and unassuming" (Semple lxxx)	View
Robert Tannahill	influenced by, addressed writing to	Robert Burns	Tannahill wrote dialect poems inspired by Burns from approximately 1800-1810. He addressed several odes in Burns' memory for Burns Suppers, and helped found and was the first secretary of the Paisley Burns Club.	View