Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Lochore, Robert
LOCHORE, ROBERT (1762–1852), Scottish poet, was born at Strathaven, Lanarkshire, 7 July 1762. At the age of thirteen he became a shoemaker, and ultimately conducted a successful business of his own in Glasgow. On 7 June 1786 he married Isobel Browning, a native of Ayrshire. His local interests and his literary tastes brought him into contact with Burns. Generous and philanthropic, Lochore founded the Glasgow Annuity Society, besides assisting other institutions for the public good. He died at Glasgow 27 April 1852, leaving an autobiography and various Scottish tales and poems, which have not been published.
Lochore early wrote verses, and he composed in his eighty-eighth year a spirited 'Last Speech of the Auld Brig of Glasgow on being condemned to be taken down.' This was circulated as a broadsheet in 1850, and it is believed to have appeared in the 'Reformers' Gazette' that year. In 1795-1796 Lochore published two poetical tracts, 'Willie's Vision' and 'The Foppish Taylor.' About 1815 he published anonymously 'Tales in Rhyme and Minor Pieces, in the Scottish Dialect.' His song, 'Noo, Jenny, lass, my Bonny Bird,' has been attributed to Burns. He used the vernacular dexterously, and his poems are valuable illustrations of Scottish life and character. For a time, about 1817, he edited the 'Kilmarnock Mirror' for his son (James Paterson, Autobiog. Reminiscences, 1871).
[Information from Mr. R. Brodie and Mr John Lochore, the poet's grandsons; Rogers's Modern Scottish Minstrel; Grant Wilson's Poets and Poetry of Scotland.]