White was the son of a border farmer, was born on 17 September 1802 at the Clock Mill, near the gipsy village of Yetholm in Roxburghshire.
His father's landlord, James Ellis, the friend and correspondent of Sir Walter Scott, encouraged him, and made him welcome in his library, where he spent the winter evenings, copying whole volumes of his patron's treasures.
By abstemious living he was able to devote part of his small income to the purchase of books, and in time he accumulated a library containing many rare and valuable volumes.
His first poem, ‘The Tynemouth Nun,’ was written in 1829, and at the suggestion of the antiquary, John Adamson, it was printed in the same year for the Typographical Society of Newcastle.
These monographs were rendered valuable by White's intimate acquaintance with local legend, and by his topographical knowledge, which enabled him to elucidate much that hitherto had remained obscure.
], 8vo; ‘A Few Lyrics,’ Edinburgh, 1857, 8vo, reprinted from Charles Rogers's ‘Modern Scottish Minstrel,’ 1855 (for private circulation); and ‘Poems, including Tales, Ballads, and Songs,’ Kelso, 1867, 8vo (with a portrait).