ABSTRACT
John Pindar was the pen name of Peter Leslie, who was born in Lochgelly, Fife, Scotland in 1836. His father was a miner and his mother had been a farm servant. Although intellectually curious, Pindar was not well educated as a child, having to enter the mine at aged 10 in order to contribute to the family income. He learned to write as a young man, but not finding mining congenial, and wanting to see the world, he joined the army in 1858. He was sent almost immediately to India, where he joined the Highland Light Infantry (the 71st). The regiment returned to Scotland in 1864, and Pindar served in England, Ireland, Gibraltar and Malta, as well. He remained in the service until the late 1870s, when he penned his auto-biography. He subsequently returned to Lochgelly, and wrote numerous poems about daily life in the village, becoming known as the “Lochgelly Poet”. Although he had many romances, Pindar never married. The excerpts below are from the period between 1866 and 1868, when the regiment was in Ireland.
