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 where he acquired a knowledge of book-keeping and the elements of mathematics, French, and Latin. At sixteen he became clerk to John Maxwell of Terraughty, but remained with him only a short time. He was next apprenticed to a millwright, and on the conclusion of his apprenticeship in 1797 found employment at Rotherham. His master having become bankrupt, he went to London, and had formed a design of emigrating to the West Indies, when he learned that his master had set up in business at Lynn in Norfolk, upon which he joined him there. About 1800 he removed to Wiltshire, and soon afterwards to the neighbourhood of Cambridge. At an early age he had begun to compose songs and poetry in his native tongue, and in 1797 ‘The Har'st Kirn’ (Harvest Home) was published in ‘Brash and Reid's Poetry, original and selected.’ While at Cambridge he wrote ‘The Hills o' Gallowa,’ one of the most popular of his songs, and of so high merit that it was attributed by some to Burns, and appeared in a collected edition of his works published by Orphoot at Edinburgh in 1820; a satirical poem entitled ‘The Cambridgeshire Garland;’ and another of a similar cast, ‘The Unco Grave.’ In 1805 Cunningham was in Dover, and proceeding thence to London, he found employment in the establishment of Rennie the engineer. Subsequently he was for some time foreman superintendent of Fowler's chain cable manufactory, but in 1812 he again joined Rennie's establishment as a clerk, and latterly rose to be the chief clerk. In 1806 he began to contribute poetry to the ‘Scots Magazine,’ and in 1809 was invited by Hogg, who styled him ‘Nithsdale's lost and darling Cunningham,’ to contribute to his ‘Forest Minstrel.’ On the establishment of the ‘Edinburgh Magazine’ in 1817, he contributed to it not only poems and songs, but, under the title of a ‘Literary Legacy,’ several prose sketches on modern society, as well as stories of the olden time, and interesting information on antiquarian subjects. Latterly he became discouraged in his literary ambition, and destroyed all his manuscript tales and poems, including one of considerable length entitled ‘Braken Fell.’ His verses are characterised by humour and tenderness, and are chiefly descriptive of the peasant life of his native district. He died on 28 Oct. 1834 in Princes Street, Blackfriars Road, London.



CUNNINGHAM, TIMOTHY (d. 1789), founder of the Cunningham prize in the Royal Irish Academy, was a member of the Middle Temple, and lived in chambers at Gray's Inn during upwards of thirty years. He was probably a native of Ireland. In 1759 he solicited employment as copyist at the British Museum from Dr. (1697–1771) [q. v.] the antiquary. His terms, however, of twopence a sheet for foreign languages, with some small extra allowance for preliminary researches, seem to have been thought too high (, Illustr. of Lit. iii. 384–6). It may be presumed that his circumstances improved later, as he was the author or compiler of numerous legal and antiquarian books. Among them may be mentioned: ‘A New Treatise on the Laws concerning Tithes,’ 3rd ed. 1748, 4th ed. 1777; ‘The Practice of a Justice of Peace,’ 1762; ‘A New and Complete Law Dictionary,’ 2 vols. fol. 1764–5, 3rd ed. 1782–3, 4to; ‘The History of the Customs, Aids, Subsidies, National Debts, and Taxes of England,’ 1764, 3rd ed. 1778; ‘History and Antiquities of the Inns of Court and Chancery,’ 1780 and 1790; ‘An Historical Account of the Rights of Election,’ 1783, &c.

Cunningham was elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries on 29 Jan. 1761, and a testimonial for his admission to the Royal Society was signed in the same year by the Bishop of Ossory, by Dr. Morton, and others, but remained without effect (Addit. MS. 28536, f. 133). He died at Gray's Inn in April 1789, leaving a legacy of 1,000l. to the Royal Irish Academy for the encouragement of learning in Ireland by the bestowal of prizes on literary or scientific works of distinguished merit. The council made every effort to secure a portrait or bust of their benefactor, but none existed.



CUNNINGHAM, WILLIAM, fourth (d. 1547), was the only son of Robert, third earl, by Lady Marjory Douglas, eldest daughter of the fifth earl of Angus. While Lord Kilmaurs he was one of the strongest supporters of the English faction against the Duke of Albany, his adherence to the English court, as was then customary in the case of the Scottish nobility, being purchased by a pension. Lord Dacre, the English ambassador, writing to Wolsey on 23 Aug. 1516, states that for the purpose of making diversion against the duke he had the master of Kilmaurs kept in his house se-