author
David Rorie
1867–1946
A Scottish doctor-poet who turned everyday speech, local folklore, and working life into warm, memorable verse in Scots. Best known for “The Lum Hat Wantin’ the Croon,” he also wrote from firsthand experience in medicine and war.
1 Audiobook
The Auld Doctor and other Poems and Songs in Scots
by David Rorie
About the author
Born in Edinburgh in 1867 and brought up in Aberdeen, David Rorie trained in medicine at Aberdeen and Edinburgh before building a career as a physician. He later served in the Royal Army Medical Corps during the First World War, and his wartime experiences fed into his prose as well as his poetry.
Rorie wrote in Scots with an easy, lively voice shaped by medical practice and close contact with rural communities. The Scottish Poetry Library describes him as a doctor-poet whose work drew heavily on the people and places around him, while other accounts note his interest in folklore, especially the traditions of mining communities.
He is now remembered as a physician, folklorist, and poet, especially for the song The Lum Hat Wantin’ the Croon and for collections that capture humor, local character, and affection for Scots language. He died on February 18, 1946.