His father was John Pirie, a physician and surgeon, and his mother was Jane Harvey.
[2] As a child the family moved to Glasgow, where his father was a popular and well-known physician.
In the early 1890s he was in Texas for a period, drawing horses and ranching scenes.
He exhibited widely, including at the Royal Academy as well as in Scotland and the provinces.
The family lived in a large isolated house (Wardend) in Torrance with enough space for all of them to pursue their own interests.