James Hedderwick

He was born on 18 January 1814 in Govan just west of Glasgow, the third son of James Hedderwick (d.1864), printer, and Joanna McNeilage.

From his early teens he contributed articles to newspapers and magazines and decided that writing rather than printing was his vocation.

[1] In 1837 he also obtained a position in Edinburgh as the Assistant Editor of the Scotsman newspaper under the editorship of Charles Maclaren.

This included poetry not only by himself, but by other notable Scots poets of the day such as David Gray, Alexander Smith, and William Black.

They had seven children, including Thomas Charles Hunter Hedderwick a lawyer who became MP for Wick Burghs in 1896.