Robert Tannahill

Robert Tannahill (June 3, 1774 - May 17, 1810) was a Scottish poet known as the "Paisley Poet". He was born in Paisley to a weaving family and was apprenticed in the same trade from the age of 12. After a short period of working in Bolton around 1800, Tannahill returned to Paisley to support the family in time of illness. In the years which followed, his interest in poetry and music blossomed and his writings began to appear in such publications as The Scots Magazine. In 1810, he died by his own hand, drowned in the Paisley Canal.

Perhaps the most enduring legacy of Robert Tannahill is his poem The Braes of Balquidder (c.1742), the basis for the traditional Scots ballad Will Ye Go Lassie, Go.