Thomas Smibert
{{Short description|Scottish poet and writer}}
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{{Use British English|date=September 2019}}
Thomas Smibert (1810–1854) was a Scottish journalist, writer and poet.
Life
He was born on 8 February 1810 at Peebles, where his father, Thomas Smibert, a leather-merchant, was provost (1808–11); his mother's name was Janet Tait. Educated there, he was apprenticed to a druggist, and then qualified as a surgeon at Edinburgh University.{{cite DNB|wstitle=Smibert, Thomas|volume=52}}
Smibert set up as a surgeon at Innerleithen, near Peebles, but left after a year when faced by personal and business problems. From Peebles he contributed to Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, of which he became sub-editor and editor between 1837 and 1842. During that period he wrote for the periodical about 650 literary articles, tales, and biographical sketches. He was also a large contributor to Chambers's Information for the People.
In 1842 Smibert became sub-editor of The Scotsman, but a legacy meant he shortly dropped journalism for literature. In his later years he was a frequent contributor to Hogg's Instructor. He died at Edinburgh on 16 January 1854.
Works
- Condé's Wife (1842), a historical play that had a run of nine nights at the Edinburgh Theatre Royal.
- Clans of the Highlands of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1850).
- Io Anche! Poems chiefly Lyrical (Edinburgh, 1851), a collection of his verse including the song The Scottish Widow's Lament, with a Tweeddale setting and in dialect.{{cite ODNB|id=25759|first=Victoria|last=Millar|title=Smibert, Thomas}}
Notes
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External links
;Attribution
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