Allan Cunningham
BiographyAllan Cunningham (December 7, 1784–October 30, 1842) was a Scottish poet and author.
He was born at Keir, near Dalswinton, Dumfries, and Galloway, and first worked as a stonemason’s apprentice. His father was a neighbour of Robert Burns at Ellisland and Allan with his brother James visited James Hogg, the “Ettrick shepherd,” who became a friend. Cunningham’s other brothers were the naval surgeon Peter Miller Cunningham (1789–1864) and the poet Thomas Mounsey Cunningham (1776–1834). As a hobby he took to reading and writing imitations of old Scottish ballads. In 1809 he collected old ballads for Robert Hartley Cromek’s Remains of Nithsdale and Galloway Song;” he sent in, however, poems of his own which the editor inserted even though he may have suspected their real authorship. This piece of literary faud gained for him the friendship of Walter Scott and James Hogg. In 1810 Cunningham went to London where he worked as a parliamentary reporter and journalist until 1814, when he became clerk of the works in the studio of the sculptor Francis Chantrey, a post he kept until Chantrey’s death in 1841.
Cunningham contributed songs to Eugenius Roche’s Literary Recreations in 1807, wrote various novels and non-fiction, and wrote songs, many of which became popular. He also brought out an edition of Robert Burns’ works.
Cunningham was married to Jean Walker, who had been servant in a house where he lived, and they had five sons and one daughter, all of whom rose to important positions and inherited in some degree his literary gifts. Among them were Joseph Davey Cunningham, Alexander Cunningham, Peter Cunningham and Francis Cunningham.
Bibliography (wildly incomplete)
Sir Marmaduke Maxwell (play, 1820)
Paul Jones; A Romance (novel, 1826)
The Maid of Elvar: A Poem in Twelve Parts (1832)
The Works of Robert Burns (1834)
Life of Wilkie (1843)
Other links
AllPoetry.com
Britannica
Wikipedia