Born in Echlin, in the Parish of Dalmeny, on 5th October 1721, he received his elementary education at the local parish school, leaving there for Edinburgh University at the age of 14.
During his studies his father died, and he took over the running the family farm at Fisher’s Tryst, and caring for his mother and three sisters. He did however continue his studies in divinity until he was licensed to preach the gospel.
In May 1753 he was appointed assistant minister of the Parish of Ratho. It is recorded that he became a great favourite with the Earl of Lauderdale, the patron of the parish.
In a statistical account about Dalmeny there is a copy of some indifferent verses ‘On a Storm’, alleged to have been written by him when he was 10. The likelihood is that they were written when he was about 16/17 years old.
In 1757 he published, in Edinburgh, his celebrated epic, entitled ‘The Epigoniad, a Poem in Nine Books’, the results of many years study and hard work. This work is based on a subject in the fourth Iliad of Homer, relating to the sacking of Thebes. The publication met with temporary success in Scotland but was poorly received in England. It was also severely dealt with by the critics of the time. Notwithstanding it was reprinted in 1759, with the addition of ‘A Dream, in the Manner of Spenser’. A lively and elegant apology for his Epigoniad, the work was too cumbersome and has long since been consigned to some dusty archive.
He remained in the Parish until 1759 when he transferred to the Professorship of Moral Philosophy in the University of St. Andrews. Taking his sisters with him, he purchased some land, his successful agricultural habits earned him the nickname of ‘the potato minister’.
In 1766 the University of St. Andrews conferred on him the degree of D.D.
1768 saw a further publication. A series of ‘Moral Fables in Verse’ dedicated to his early patron the Earl of Lauderdale, described as possessing much propriety, did not add to his reputation as a poet.
He died in St Andrews on 10th October 1772, aged 51 years, his estate was £3,000.
Described as extremely eccentric, he suffered from ague, and to keep up his temperature he would be seen wearing several jackets at once. He also slept with an excessive number of bedclothes.