John Bethune

John Bethune (1812–1839) was a short-lived Scottish weaver-poet. He sometimes wrote under the pen-name of the Fifeshire Forester.

Life

He was born in 1812 in a cottage on the estate of Upper (or Over) Rankeilour House (previously known as The Mount) in the parish of Monimail in central Fife. He was the son of Alexander Bethune (d.1838), a farm labourer and weaver, and his wife Alison Christie. He was the younger brother of Alexander Bethune.

In 1813, the family moved to Mains of Woodmill for a few months and then to nearby Lochend Farm near Lindores Loch in the parish of Abdie. He had no school education but was taught to read and write by his mother. His brother Alexander taught him arithmetic.

In 1822, he was employed alongside his brother breaking rocks to create a new toll road in Fife from Lindores to Newburgh. He returned again to labouring after his weaving venture collapsed.

From 1829, he worked as a labourer at Inchture estate near Perth and was promoted to overseer in 1835. He lost this job in 1838 when the estate was sold. He never regained employment and thereafter tried to make a living as a writer. "Poems by the Late John Bethune" (1841) posthumous publishing