Cremazie monument, Montreal, 1906

Montreal Standard, 21 July 1906

First monument ever erected in Canada to a Canadian poet – the Cremazie Memorial on St Louis Square, Montreal, recently unveiled with appropriate ceremonies. It is not a large affair, but it is one of the most artistic monuments on the American continent, and is the work of Phillippe Hebert, a Canadian sculptor. Cremazie was one of the famous French Canadian bards of the 19^th century, his most noted poem being “Le Drapeau de Carillon,” the hero in which is perpetuated in the figure at the base of the monument.

Monument à Louis-Octave Crémazie

Robert Reid, Montreal, 1922

Montreal Gazette, 2 Jun 1922

Scottish Poet died Yesterday

Robert Reid published under nom de plume of “Rob Wanlock”

Dr Lighthall’s Tribute

Poet Laureate of Montreal Caledonian Society and Holder of Kinnear Wreath

Mr. Robert Reid, well-known Scottish-Canadian poet, and contributor of verse to the Gazette and the old Montreal Daily Witness, under the pen-name of “Rob Wanlock” died at his residence, 600 Lansdowne Avenue, Westmount, yesterday morning. He had been in poor health for about twelve years, having been confined to the house during the last two years.

Mr. Reid would have been 72 years of age on Thursday next, having been born at Wanlockhead in the Lowther Hills of Dumfriesshire, Scotland, on June 8, 1850. He was educated at the village school, going to Glasgow at the age of 15.  There and in Belfast, where he went for a short time, he engaged in commercial affairs.  He came to Montreal in 1877, taking a position in the financial department of Henry Morgan & Co, Limited, where he rose to the head of that branch, becoming a director of the company.  About twelve years ago he was overtaken by illness, from which he never recovered.  In 1914 he retired on a pension.

While still in Scotland, Mr. Reid produced a volume of verses entitled “Moorland Rhymes,” which appeared in 1874, when he was only 24 years of age. The book was well received and greeted as a valuable contribution to the songs of the Scottish Lowlands.  After his coming to Canada, Mr. Reid was a contributor to Montreal papers and various periodicals. In 1894 he brought out another volume of verse entitled “Poems, Songs and Sonnets.” Until his first illness in 1910, he was a constant contributor to the Gazette.

Among Mr. Reid’s better-known poems were “the Whaup,” “the Spirit of the Moor” “A Sprig o’ Heather”, “The Cairn o’ the hill”, and “Kilmeny’s Warning,” which were included in his first volume, and “Kirk Bride,” and “Enterkin” which figured in the second book.

Dr Lighthall’s Tribute

Dr WD Lighthall, KC, FRSC, editor of two anthologies of Canadian verse, “Songs of the Great Dominion,” and “Canadian Poems and Lays,” paid a tribute to the poetry of the late Mr. Reid. “His treatment of Scottish Lowland dialect was particularly melodious,” said Dr Lighthall last night. “Inspired by the memories of his native moorlands, he delighted in singing their beauty in verses of uncommon purity.  Rob Wanlock was one of the sweetest of Scottish-Canadian singers, and a poet among those who enjoy Scottish dialect verse.”

Mr. Reid was the winner on several occasions of the Kinnear Wreath, offered by the North American Caledonian Association for the best Scottish song or poem of the year. For several years he was the poet-laureate of the Montreal Caledonian Society, and for three years was president of the Montreal Burns Club. He was a member of the Stanley Presbyterian Church, Westmount.

The late Mr. Reid is survived by his widow, nee Mary Lawson; one son, Wanlock Reid, of the Bank of Montreal; two daughters, Mrs. RE Knight and Miss Marjorie Reid of Montreal; one brother, John Matthewson Reid of Alloa, Scotland; and four sisters, Mrs. W Muir, Mrs. M Carmichael, Mrs. D Laidlaw, and Miss Elizabeth Reid, all of London. Two brothers predeceased him a few years only.  They were Dr W Bramwell Reid, of London, England, who died in 1919, and David Reid, of Wanlockhead, who died in 1918.

Burns – the AntiChrist? 1869

The Montreal Evening Star, 9 Mar 1869

A Scotch clergyman has discovered that Burns was Antichrist, because he wrote good poems and drank much whiskey. He fears that people who sympathize with him in respect of whisky may become corrupted into reading his poems.

Death of Robert Burns’ son, 1872

Montreal Evening Star, 3 April 1872

The death is announced of Colonel William Nicol Burns, the last surviving son of Robert Burns. Colonel Burns was in his eighty-second year, and, like his younger brother James, who died November 1865, was an officer in the East India Company’s service, from which he retired nearly thirty years ago.

To Robert Burns, 1918

Montreal Gazette, 22 July 1918, page 3

To Robert Burns

“Bard of Caledonia”

(Gaed ayent the ‘Bourne’ July 21, 1796)

O Scottish Bard! Hoo Happy, syne, were ye,

Yon Time? Mang Scotland’s bonnie hills and braes,

Ye, pensive, roamed and dreamed your homely lays,

Or, when, wi’ jovial friens, ye mingled free,

An, ghaists o’ care, wi’ cup an’ sang, mad flee

Ken ye, that gane are a’ the ‘guid auld days,

Noo, grisly War his gory haun displays,

An’ grief, her veil, coosts owre the face o’ Glee.

Ay, Rab, sic change, I’ troth, is owre the times,

Sma’ space hae we tae con thy weel-lo’ed rhymes.

Whilk e’en maun lie unheedit I’ the fauld,

Wi’ mony ither treasures, new an’ auld

Until ance mair sall break the dawn o’ peace

Frae sorrow’s thrall, tae gie oor hearts release.

C Bradford.

Thom of Inverury – poet, Calcutta, 1845

Perthshire Advertiser, 9 Jan 1845, p2

 

The Poet Thom – An Indian paper, just received, has the following: – An appeal to the generosity of the Calcutta community was made not long since by the Calcutta Star, and warmly supported by the Huckarn in favour of the Scottish poet, Thom, of Inverury, Aberdeenshire, who has undergone much distress owing to want of employment in his occupation of weaver.  Scotland celebrates the memory of Burns with fetes and processions, leaving the living poet to starve in a garret.  We are happy to say that a considerable sum has been subscribed for Mr Thom – in fact, upwards of £100.