He was born in 1753, at Redpath House,
Longformacus,
Berwickshire. He was the eldest of seven children to a tenant sheep-farmer in the
Lammermuir Hills. After a local education he began employment as the local schoolteacher for the parish of
Edrom before attending the
University of Edinburgh to study Classics, graduating in 1775. This background gave him access to teach at a higher calibre of school and he taught both at
George Watson’s College,
Dalkeith Grammar School and the
High School in Edinburgh. In the 1780s he lived at Alexander's Land in the Bristo area. He was elected a Fellow of the
Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1800 his main proposer being the physician,
James Gregory. He trained under
John Hill at the
University of Edinburgh and graduated MA in 1806, and from that date he served as professor of humanity at the university. He died in Edinburgh on 25 June 1820 and is buried in
Greyfriars Kirkyard in the city centre. He is buried in the plot of
Professor George Dunbar at the north-west section of the western extension. He is also memorialised on
Robert Christison's grave at New Calton. ==Family==