Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Reid, Robert (1773-1865)
REID, ROBERT (1773–1865), topographer and antiquary, youngest son of John Reid, mahogany dealer and cabinet-maker in Glasgow, was born there on 27 Jan. 1773. He was educated at the grammar school and the university of Glasgow. In 1793 he commenced business as a muslin manufacturer, and in 1800 became a partner with his brother John as a wholesale mahogany dealer. On his brother's death he took over the business, adding to it that of cabinet-making and upholstery. In 1832 he sold off his stock-in-trade and retired from business. Devoting himself to literature, under the pseudonym of ‘Senex,’ he contributed for many years attractive and well-informed articles on local memorabilia to the ‘Glasgow Herald.’ These papers were afterwards collected and published, as ‘Glasgow Past and Present,’ in three volumes. Two volumes appeared in 1851 and the third in 1856. Reid's ‘Glasgow and its Environs’ was issued in 1864, and both works, with additions by other writers, were reprinted in three quarto volumes at Glasgow in 1884. The third volume, written entirely by Reid, contains his portrait and a short autobiography.
During the last years of his life Reid resided at Strahoun Lodge in the island of Cumbrae, where he died on 7 June 1865. Reid married, in 1809, a daughter of Robert Ewing, a merchant of London. She died in 1826. By her he had three sons. Reid was also author of: ‘Fragments regarding the Ancient History of the Hebrides,’ 12mo, Glasgow, 1850.
[Obituary notice in Glasgow Herald; autobiography, reprinted 1865.]