William Mercer

William Mercer (born circa 1605, died in or after 1675), was a Scottish poet and army officer.

Biography At fifteen he ran away from school to become a soldier and fought in the 30 Years War. By the time he was twenty-four he had served six monarchs, including the King of Denmark and Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden. He returned to Scotland disillusioned by lack of pay, and in 1630 obtained a position as a chorister of the Chapel Royal at Stirling, from Charles I. but left Ireland to join the Parliamentary side in the First English Civil War. He was commissioned as a captain in the parliamentarian army of the Earl of Essex, and he witnessed the Battle of Edgehill.

Before his death he had been working on a "big book" chronicling events since 1638. But it was not completed by his death and David Stevenson says "That this never appeared need be little lamented, for 'Mercer's writings are mainly valuable for their autobiographical details. The majority of his verses are mere doggerel, and display an inordinate self-conceit' (DNB). But his conceit did at least ensure that enough information survived to reconstruct the outline of his life."

Mercer has been mistakenly credited by some with writing The Moderate Cavalier, or, The Soldier's Description of Ireland which was published in 1675, but the William Mercer who wrote it had served as a Royalist in the English Civil War.