MANY GLASSES were raised to the bard over the weekend, but one young Forfar writer had special reason to offer a toast.
Teenager Matthew Kelly has just unearthed a connection to one of the Angus town’s unsung literary sons and with it the serendipitous discovery of his forebear’s 19th-century birthday tribute to Robert Burns.
Aspiring author Matthew (19), of St James Road, is among a group of young people involved in a heritage and media project at Pitstop youth centre.
The project has helped uncover the stories behind some important, but little recognised, Forfar figures including John Jamieson, creator of the first Scots dictionary. The quest has revealed a direct family link for Matthew to prolific and highly-regarded author Alexander Lowson, a former Baillie of the town who honoured Rabbie Burns with a birthday song praising “Scotia’s Poet King”.
Matthew’s discovery of the song emerged from research sparked by a copy of Lowson’s 1890 book John Guidfollow, A Romance of Forfarshire.
“I saw it a couple of years ago and nothing came of it until I mentioned it to (project worker) Dawn Mullady in connection with the heritage project,” Matthew said.
“I’m a writer and said I had writing in my blood, so I dug up the family tree and discovered Alexander Lowson was my great-uncle four times removed. When I researched his history a bit more I discovered the Burns Birthday Song in one of his other books.”