Thomas Smibert

Thomas Smibert was a Scottish journalist, writer and poet.

Life

He was born on 8 February 1810 at Peebles, where his father, Thomas Smibert, a leather-merchant, was provost ; his mother's name was Janet Tait. Educated there, he was apprenticed to a druggist, and then qualified as a surgeon at Edinburgh University.
Smibert set up as a surgeon at Innerleithen, near Peebles, but left after a year when faced by personal and business problems. From Peebles he contributed to Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, of which he became sub-editor and editor between 1837 and 1842. During that period he wrote for the periodical about 650 literary articles, tales, and biographical sketches. He was also a large contributor to Chambers's Information for the People.
In 1842 Smibert became sub-editor of The Scotsman, but a legacy meant he shortly dropped journalism for literature. In his later years he was a frequent contributor to Hogg's Instructor. He died at Edinburgh on 16 January 1854.

Works

Smibert wrote:

Condé's Wife, a historical play that had a run of nine nights at the Edinburgh Theatre Royal.
Clans of the Highlands of Scotland.
Io Anche! Poems chiefly Lyrical, a collection of his verse including the song The Scottish Widow's Lament, with a Tweeddale setting and in dialect.