Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Macdonald, Hugh (1817-1860)
MACDONALD, HUGH (1817–1860), Scottish poet, born in Bridgeton, Glasgow, on 4 April 1817, was apprenticed, after a scanty education at a night-school, to a block-printer. He subsequently kept a provision shop in Bridgeton, and ultimately returned to his trade in Paisley. He began to write verse in the 'Glasgow Citizen,' to which he also contributed a series of letters defending Burns from an attack by George Gilfillan [q. v.] In 1846 he had a meeting in Edinburgh with Professor Wilson ('Christopher North'), and wrote a graphic and interesting account of it. In 1849 he gave up his trade and joined the staff of the 'Glasgow Citizen,' for which, and for the 'Glasgow Times,' he wrote the series of descriptive papers subsequently collected under the titles of 'Rambles round Glasgow' and 'Days at the Coast.' In 1855 he joined the 'Glasgow Sentinel,' soon afterwards became editor of the 'Glasgow Times' and in 1858 literary editor of the 'Morning Journal,' a post which he held till his death on 16 March 1860. In 1883 a rustic stone fount, with a medallion bust of Macdonald, was errected to his memory on the site of 'the bonnie wee well' which is the subjct of one of his songs. All his literary work shows an intense love of nature, but his prose is better than his verse. His poetical works were published, with a memoir, Glasgow, 1865.
[Memoir as above; Brown's Poets of Paisley, ii. 93; Roger's Scottish Minstrel.]