William Laidlaw

William Laidlaw (19 November 1780 - 1845) was a Scottish poet.

Overview
The son of a border farmer, Laidlaw became steward and amanuensis to Walter Scott, and was the author of a well-known ballad, Lucy's Flittin.

Youth and education
Laidlaw was born 19 November 1780, at Blackhouse, Selkirkshire, where his father was a sheep-farmer. After receiving an elementary education at Peebles he assisted his father for a time. James Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd, whose mother was his distant cousin, was employed at Blackhouse for 10 years, and formed a lasting friendship with Laidlaw. According to Hogg's Autobiography Laidlaw was one of his 1st appreciative critics. In 1801 Hogg and Laidlaw helped Walter Scott with materials for the ‘Border Minstrelsy.’

Career
After 2 unsuccessful attempts at farming, in Peeblesshire and Midlothian respectively, Laidlaw in 1817 became steward to Sir Walter Scott at Abbotsford. They suited each other exactly, Laidlaw proving himself not only an exemplary servant but a worthy counsellor and a devoted friend. He was valued in the field, on the stream, and in the study. In 1819, when Scott was recovering from an illness, Laidlaw and Ballantyne wrote to his dictation most of the Bride of Lammermoor, and subsequently The Legend of Montrose, and nearly all Ivanhoe. St. Ronan's Well may have been due to Laidlaw's suggestion that Scott should devote a novel to "Melrose in July 1823" (Lockhart, Life, v. 285, ed. 1837).

When ruin fell upon Scott, he wrote to Laidlaw that it was "not the least painful consideration" amid his troubles that he could no longer be useful to him (Journal, i. 97). After an interval, however, Laidlaw became his amanuensis, retaining the post till Scott's death in 1832.

Subsequently he was factor to Sir Charles Lockhart Ross, Balnagowan, Rossshire. Retiring in feeble health, he died in the house of his brother at Contin, near Dingwall, Ross-shire, 18 May 1845.

Writing
Laidlaw wrote several lyrics, but he is remembered only for his tender song, "Lucy's Flittin'," published in Hogg's Forest Minstrel, 1810. After 1817 he compiled, under Scott's management and direction, part of the Edinburgh Annual Register, and contributed articles to the Edinburgh Monthly Magazine’ (afterwards Blackwood's Magazine). He is also said to have written on the geology of Selkirkshire.