Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/McKay, Archibald

by Gordon Goodwin

McKAY, ARCHIBALD (1801–1883), poet and topographer, was born at Kilmarnock in 1801. After receiving a scanty education he was apprenticed to a handloom weaver, but subsequently abandoned the loom and became a bookbinder. He also conducted a circulating library in King Street, Kilmarnock, where he died in April 1883. He wrote:

1. 'Poems,' 12mo, 1830.
2. 'Recreations of Leisure Hours,' 12mo, 1832 (2nd edition in 1844), a collection of pieces in prose and verse.
3. 'A History of Kilmarnock,' 12mo, 1848 (other editions in 1858 and 1864), a creditable compilation.
4. 'Ingle-side Lilts,' 12mo, 1855.

His poems attracted considerable attention, and some of the pieces, such as 'My First Bawbee,' 'My ain Couthie Wife,' and 'Drouthy Tam' (first published in 1828), gained great popularity.

[Rogers's Modern Scottish Minstrel, v. 85; Times, 27 April 1883.]

G. G.