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.