Dougal Graham

Born near Stirling in the 1720s and later active in Glasgow, he is remembered as a poet, chapbook writer, and the city's "skellat" bellman. Sources agree that he became one of the most distinctive voices in popular Scottish literature, writing in lively vernacular Scots rather than in polished literary English.

He is especially associated with the world of chapbooks—cheap printed booklets sold to ordinary readers—and with accounts linked to the Jacobite era. That mix of humor, storytelling, and close observation helped preserve the sound and feel of everyday 18th-century Scottish life.

Although some details of his early life are uncertain, his reputation has endured because of the energy and originality of his writing. Today he is often valued not just as a folkloric figure, but as an important witness to the language and popular culture of his time.