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Description: | Allan Cunningham was born at Keir, Dumfriesshire, his father had been a neighbour of Robert Burns when he farmed at Ellisland. In later life Cunningham claimed to remember hearing Burns recite Tam O' Shanter when he was just six years old.
In 1834 he brought out, 'The Works of Robert Burns, with his Life' in eight volumes. Unfortunately his biography of Burns is flawed, giving a relatively accurate impression of the poet but containing many errors of fact about his life.
Cunningham worked as a stone mason, but had a love of literature and was a friend of the Scottish writer, James Hogg. He collected traditional ballads and wrote songs, the best known of which is the sea song, 'A Wet Sheet and a Flowing Sea'. He went to London in 1810 and gradually established his reputation as a poet and journalist. | License: | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0 | Publisher: | Dumfries & Galloway Council - Nithsdale Museums | Temporal: | 1875-01-01 - 1875-12-31 | Source: | Burns Scotland | Identifier: | Allan Cunningham, c 1840 | Go to resource |
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