Annie Laurie
was eldest of the three daughters of Sir Robert Laurie, of Maxwellton, born December 16, 1682. William Douglas, of Fingland (Kirkcudbright), wrote the popular song, but Annie married, in 1709, James Fergusson, of Craigdarroch, and was the mother of Alexander Fergusson, the hero of Burns’s song called The Whistle.
William Douglas was the hero of the song “Willie was a wanton wag.”
