John Davidson was born in Renfrewshire in 1857, the son of a Presbyterian Minister. He grw up in Greenock and, after briefly attending Edinburghrgh University, worked as a teacher in Glasgow and Perth. In 1889 he moved to London where worked as a journalist and critic. Several of his dramas had been published while he was still in Scotland, but in the 1890s he began to write, and published several popular collections, including ‘In a Music-Hall’ (1891) and ‘Ballads and Songs’ (1894). These chronicled urban working class life, and expressed his outrage at the poverty of the ordinary man. The much-anthologised ‘Thirty Bob a Week’ is the most famous example.

In the early 1900s he moved away from lyric poetry and turned to blank verse, incorporating scientific language, This, however, was not received well. Despite the early popularity of his poetry, financial difficulties blighted his life, and he had no choice but to continue with the journalism he disliked in order to support his family. This, combined with ill-health and depression, drove him to committ suicide in 1909.