Hector MacNeill (1746-1818)

Scottish poet, born near Roslin, Midlothian, Scotland. Son of a poor army captain, MacNeill went to work as a counting-house clerk in 1760 at the age of fourteen. Soon, he was sent to the West Indies, and served as an assistant secretary on board a navy flagship (1780-86). After he returned to Scotland, he wrote various political pamphlets, two novels, and several poems, but is best known for his songs, such as “My Luve’s in Germanie”, “My Boy Tammy”, and “Come under my Plaidie”. He died in Edinburgh in 1818. (M. Y.)