Robert Fergusson

Robert Fergusson was a Scottish poet. After formal education at the University of St Andrews, Fergusson led a bohemian life in Edinburgh, the city of his birth, then at the height of intellectual and cultural ferment as part of the Scottish Enlightenment. Many of his extant poems were printed from 1771 onwards in Walter Ruddiman's Weekly Magazine, and a collected works was first published early in 1773. Despite a short life, his career was highly influential, especially through its impact on Robert Burns. He wrote both Scottish English and the Scots language, and it is his vivid and masterly writing in the latter leid for which he is principally acclaimed.

5 September 1750

Born on the same birth day (5 September): Albert Mangelsdorff • Archie Jackson • Bob Newhart • Chris Hipkins • Debbie Turner • Elena Delle Donne • Elisabeth Volkenrath • Felipe Caicedo • Jamie Oldaker • Murray Mexted • Raquel Welch • Robert H. Dennard • Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland • Ryan Guy • Sunnyland Slim • Terry Ellis

Born in the same month (September 1750): Cuthbert Collingwood, 1st Baron Collingwood • Tanikaze Kajinosuke • Tomás de Iriarte y Oropesa