author
Robert Ford
1846–1905
A Scottish poet, editor, and collector of traditional songs, his work helped preserve the humor, music, and everyday speech of Scotland. He wrote with a strong sense of local life, bringing folk culture and regional verse to a wide readership.
2 Audiobooks
About the author
Born in Wolfhill, Perthshire, in 1846, he became known as a prolific Scottish writer whose work ranged across poetry, anthologies, humor, and song collecting. Records from The National Archives describe him as a writer and folksong collector, and later literary accounts portray him as especially active in gathering and publishing material rooted in Scottish tradition.
Much of his writing was shaped by an affection for ordinary voices and local culture. Books associated with him include The Harp of Perthshire, Tayside Songs, and Other Verses, Auld Scots Ballants, and Thistledown, showing his interest in regional poetry, folklore, wit, and popular song. His work helped carry older Scottish material into print for new readers at the end of the nineteenth century.
He died in 1905. Although he is not as widely remembered today as some of his contemporaries, his books remain valuable for readers interested in Scottish folk tradition, dialect verse, and the literary life of Perthshire and Glasgow.