Poet and hymn-writer, born at Irvine, son of a Moravian minister; studied for the same profession, but was not licensed; after some years of various occupation he started journalism, and eventually produced a journal of his own, Sheffield Iris, 1794-1825; he was twice fined and imprisoned for seditious publications, but became a Conservative in 1832, a pensioner 1835, and died at Sheffield; of his poetry most is forgotten, but "For ever with the Lord," and some dozen other hymns are still remembered (1771-1854).