Auchterarder Weaver Boy
Facts & Fancies: A Rambling Autobiographical Sketch plus Recreations in Rhyme by and Auchterarder Weaver Boy, Thomas Stewart (1827-1902)
It was in 1897, the year of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee, when Tom Stewart, an Auchterarder weaver, decided to commit to writing his memories of seventy years.
These memories are preserved in autobiographical form, in newspaper cuttings, in letters and poenms composed by himself, and they tell of events that belong to the history book- the First Reform Act, the Disruption and the European revolutions of 1848 - as well as personal and local matters.
His records have somehow survived a number of family removals with their usual clear-outs, and are contained in several notebooks, including the Auchterarder Poetic Album, an anthology of verses penned by a number of local poets including Stewart himself.
It was his wish, expressed in the anthology, that his work might one day be published. His great-granddaughter, Moira Cherrie, shared that wish and has collected and edited his material for Fact and Fancies
Fact and Fancies is available at the AK Bell Library Shop, £4.99.
(ISBN 978-0-905452-53-1)
Sponsored by The Friends of Perth & Kinross Council Archive and the Common Good Fund of Auchterarder
