Educated at University of Edinburgh. He married Mary Grey on 27 April 1813 and was Minister of Kelso. He worked with John and James Ballantyne on the Edinburgh Annual Register, producing the yearly ‘Chronicle’ from late 1810. He was one of the financial guarantors of their co-partnership, along with Walter Scott. He was described as ‘highly and justly respected, and esteemed for the urbanity of his manner, his unaffected piety, and other excellent qualities’ (James Haig, A Topographical and Historical Account of the Town of Kelso (Edinburgh, 1825), p. 119).