William Thom (1798?-1848), working-class poet, trained as a weaver and flute-player to support himself, until one of his poems was published in the Aberdeen Herald, and he attracted a patron. His only published volume of poems, Rhymes and Recollections of a Hand-Loom Weaver, appeared in 1844. Although he was heralded as a success and introduced to literary circles in London, he was unable to capitalise on his good fortune, slipping into alcoholism. He died in poverty in Dundee.
From the guide to the Poem of William Thom, Whisper Low, 1845, 1845, (University of St Andrews)