|
David Sillar (1760–1830), farmer, poet, grocer, schoolteacher and baillie was a close friend of the poet Robert Burns. He died in 1830, aged 70 after a long illness, and was buried in Irvine's Old Parish Church cemetery.〔 His eroded gravestone was replaced by a facsimile thanks to the Irvine Burns Club. He married twice and had only one son survive him, a Dr Zachary Sillar M.D. of Liverpool.〔 His father was Patrick Sillar, tenant farmer at Spittalside near Tarbolton, Ayrshire.〔 He first married a widow, Mrs Margaret Kerr, née Gemmell shortly after moving to Irvine and had seven children〔Paterson, Page 55〕〔Paterson, Page 63〕 and his second wife was the sister of John Bryan of the Sun Inn, Kilmarnock.〔Paterson, Page 56〕 ==Life and character== David was the third son of four, his father being Patrick Sillar, farmer at Spittalside (NS 425 277) near Tarbolton, close to the Burns family farm at Lochlea.〔Westwood, Page 125〕 David was self-taught, however he still managed to be appointed as a temporary teacher at Tarbolton, the permanent position however went to one John Wilson of ''Death and Doctor Hornbrook'' fame. Wilson had taught at Craigie.〔 Sillars response was to establish an 'adventure school', unsuccessfully, at Commonside (NS 415 244), which lies between Annbank and Tarbolton. After this setback Sillar moved to Irvine in 1783 where he established himself as a grocer under the old Irvine Tolbooth〔 and after bankruptcy in 1791 spent a short spell actually in the Tolbooth, the debtors jail. It is recorded that he wrote to one his two elder and successful businessmen brothers to ask for a loan of the £5 he needed to keep out of debtor's jail, but was denied.〔 This incident had a lasting effect on him, despite the wealth he later acquired. He had once again tried his hand in 1784 as a teacher in Irvine, setting up a school of navigation in East Back Road,〔Irvine Burns Club, Page 15〕 with however the same result as before.〔Strawhorn, Page 92〕 Makinson however records that this navigation school was very successful, providing him with an income of around £100 per annum,〔Paterson, Page 54〕 Irvine being a busy port at the time.〔 In 1797 he unsuccessfully applied for a job as a teacher of English in Irvine.〔 David recorded his move to Irvine in rhyme :- After this series of setbacks fate played a positive hand and he was fortunate enough to inherit a fortune (between £30,000 and £40,000) from an uncle, a partner in Sillar and Henderson, a Liverpool mercantile company. Makinson states that the fortunes were actually inherited from his elder brothers Robert (died 1811) and John who had been very successful in trading between Liverpool and Africa, had not married and both died young. David also had a younger brother William who died young and left him a considerable sum of money together with the lease of Spittalside Farm.〔Makinson, Page 76〕 David's wife ran the farm and he ran his school, returning to work in the fields at the end of each week.〔Makinson, Page 77〕 After gaining financial security he went on to become a councillor and later on a baillie or magistrate in Irvine.〔 His unsuccessful grocer shop was located near the old tolbooth, however after receiving the substantial inheritance he bought various properties, including a block of four houses, north of the cross, on the west side of High Street and in 1814 a house at Kirkgatehead.〔Boyle, Page68〕 He is not recorded as having been a generous benefactor, possibly due to his experiences in life.〔 He outlived all his family apart from his son who lived in Liverpool. David both played the dulcimer and also the fiddle for which he composed. The air ''"A Rosebud by My Early Walk"'' was composed by him and was sent by Burns to be included in Johnson's Musical Museum.〔Boyle, Page 141〕 Margaret or Peggy Orr was a nurserymaid at Stair House and Robert Burns is said to have lent a hand as a 'blackfoot' with his courtship of this lady, however the engagement was brief and she later married John Paton, an Edinburgh shoemaker. In his first 'Epistle to Davie' entitled An Epistle to Davy, a Brother-Poet, Lover, Ploughman and Fiddler'', Burns wrote :- Catherine Stewart of Stair and later Afton Lodge became aware of 'Robert Burns the poet' through his visits with David and she was the first member of the upper classes to acknowledge his ability and befriend him.〔Boyle, Page 143〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「David Sillar」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|