His mother was Jane Booth, born in Lonmay Aberdeenshire to a family from the Isle of Noss in the Shetland Islands.

In 1848, George Pirie became the publisher of the Guelph Herald newspaper after his attempt at farming in the Bon Accord community.

Imprint magazine later described these early days in a profile of Pirie: "He first saw the light of publication day in his father's office, the Guelph Herald, in 1849, and was brought up to the sound of the mallet and planer, the hammering of wooden quoins in the chases and the incessant cry of "Color!"

However, Pirie had a great desire to work as a journalist in a larger city, and two years later moved on to Toronto.

This gentleman, who is still very young, finds plenty of work for the scissors of his contemporaries in a daily column of "Sun Skits."

Throughout his years in Toronto Pirie was present at many of the city's social events, such as an 1885 reading by Robert Kirkland Kernighan.

His speaking engagements ranged from reviews of his European travels to speeches in support of Liberal political candidates.

The Telegram was founded in 1876 by John Ross Robertson as a paper devoted to Toronto's interests, and, as Robertson described it, devoted to "today's news to-day"[3] Pirie spent his first year at the Telegram working under the historian John Charles Dent.

[3] In 1886, Pirie participated in a literary debate relating to Canada's role in North America and her relationship with the United States.

[5] In this capacity he spoke on behalf of Canadian interests at the World Press Conference in Chicago, Illinois.

In a May 29, 1893, article from the Toronto Mail, "Good Words for Canada: Plain Talk at the Press Convention", it was reported that Canada had the "honor of closing the proceedings of the ninth annual convention of the National Editorial Association" with the last address delivered by A. F. Pirie.

Imprint magazine, in profiling the new President of the Canadian Press Association wrote in reference to his 1889 William Notman portrait which was published within the article: "The portrait does not do justice to its subject: to do so it would require to be a "speaking likeness", for our friend is just as handy with his tongue as he is with his pen—he is a born orator as well as journalist."

Commenting on his career, Imprint noted: "Mr. Pirie is a writer of great versatility, a capital speaker, one of the best-natured men in the profession, and publishes a model country weekly..."; and on his popularity: "He is one of the most popular of our Canadian journalists, a believer in his country and its future, and is a good representative of the men who make Canadian newspapers.

"[1] He married Hester Emma McCausland in Toronto on June 12, 1889, at her father's home on Jarvis Street.

[6] Four children were born in Dundas during the 1890s: Russell Fraser,[7] Elsie Gowan, Jean Booth and Goldwin McCausland.

Pirie was interested in politics and during the Parliamentary session of 1888 he had represented the Montreal Star in the press gallery at Ottawa.

[9] In the Provincial General Election of 1898, Pirie had received a Reform nomination as a candidate for North Wentworth.

Pirie began his speech noting that his reputation as a humorist preceded him, however, in this case, he had some serious issues to cover.

According to newspaper accounts after his death, his relatives noted that he began to stay indoors for much of the time.

In July 1903,[13] Pirie visited relatives in Brandon, Manitoba, in conjunction with some work for the Liberal party.

A soldier with the 1st Battalion Western Ontario Regiment, Goldwin Pirie was selected to work as a bomb thrower due to his athletic ability.

He had attended Trinity College School in Port Hope where he was well respected as a member of their football rugby team.

The 1st battalion participated in a counterattack after the gas attacks, and Goldwin Pirie was hit by a shell during this assault.

[17] In 1918, The Hamilton Review published an article on Pirie by Sir John Willison (of The Globe) who had been profiling political and public personalities from Canada's past.

Happy but often anxious and foreboding...when I think of Pirie I recall what was said of Shelley: 'He passed through life like a strange bird upon a great journey, singing always of the paradise to which he was travelling, and suddenly lost from the sight of men in the midst of his song.'