Robert Lochore was descended from a branch of a Norman family of that name, long established in the neighbourhood of Biggar, and of which the representative was the House of Lochore de Lochore in Fifeshire. He was born at Strathaven, in the county of Lanark, on the 7th of July 1762, and, in his thirteenth year, was apprenticed to a shoemaker in Glasgow. He early commenced business in the city on his own account. In carrying on public improvements he ever evinced a deep interest, and he frequently held public offices of trust. He was founder of the "Annuity Society,"--an institution attended with numerous benefits to the citizens of Glasgow.
Mr Lochore devoted much of his time to private study. He was particularly fond of poetical composition, and wrote verses with facility, many of his letters to his intimate friends being composed in rhyme. His poetry was of the descriptive order; his lyrical effusions were comparatively rare. Several poetical tales and songs of his youth, contributed to different periodicals, he arranged, about the beginning of the century, in a small volume. The greater number of his compositions remain in MS. in the possession of his family. He died in Glasgow, on the 27th April 1852, in his ninetieth year. Of a buoyant and humorous disposition, he composed verses nearly to the close of his long life; and, latterly, found pleasure in recording, for the amusement of his family, his recollections of the past. He was universally beloved as a faithful friend, and was deeply imbued with a sense of religion.
Now, Jenny lass, my bonnie bird, My daddy 's dead, an' a' that; He 's snugly laid aneath the yird, And I 'm his heir, an' a' that; I 'm now a laird, an' a' that; I 'm now a laird, an' a' that; His gear an' land 's at my command, And muckle mair than a' that.
He left me wi' his deein' breath, A dwallin' house, an' a' that; A burn, a byre, an' wabs o' claith-- A big peat-stack, an' a' that. A mare, a foal, an' a' that; A mare, a foal, an' a' that; Sax guid fat kye, a cauf forby, An' twa pet ewes, an' a' that.
A yard, a meadow, lang braid leas, An' stacks o' corn, an' a' that-- Enclosed weel wi' thorns an' trees, An' carts, an' cars, an' a' that; A pleugh, an' graith, an' a' that; A pleugh, an' graith, an' a' that; Guid harrows twa, cock, hens, an' a'-- A grecie, too, an' a' that.