☙ David Macbeth Moir (1798-1851)

David Macbeth Moir (5 January 1798-6 July 1851) was a Scottish physician and writer. Described after his death as a 'gentle, amiable, and talented poet and physician', he was born at Musselburgh in East Lothian, Scotland, he was educated at the Musselburgh Grammar School and at 13 years apprenticed to medical practitioner Dr Stewart, studying under him for four years while also attending the University of Edinburgh, which he graduated with a surgeon's diploma in 1816 at 18 years of age.

The following year, under pressure to supply for his family after the death of his father, Moir entered into a partnership with Musselburgh practitioner Dr Brown to comfortable success, and worked with him until the end of his life following a serious injury while dismounting his horse.

Moir was married in June 1829 to Catherine Elizabeth Bell of Leith at Carham Church, Northumberland, and had 11 children. He was buried on 10 July 1851 at Inveresk Church, Musselburgh, and the town commemorates him with a memorial statue erected in 1853.

Moir wrote both prose and verse to literary magazines, particularly Edinburgh-based Blackwood's Magazine under the pseudonym 'Delta', also written with the symbol Δ, by which he was more famously known in his time (and sometimes cheekily referred to as 'the Pyramid' or 'the Triangle' by his peers).

He had begun writing poetry as early as 1812, at age 15, and while this was 'nothing wonderful', he committed to improving his craft to the standard he became renowned for, with credit given to the tutelage of his 'talented' mother Elizabeth Macbeth (1767-1842). Passionate for his craft, he was said to have returned from work at 9 or 10 o'clock in the evenings only to continue his studies into the morning by candlelight.

He is found published in Constable's Edinburgh Magazine and the aforementioned Blackwoods, the latter of which he was one of its most frequent contributors. In his later life, he worked on longer works of history and biography, including on medicine. Although he is himself recorded as a conservative, Moir is known to have advocated for the Second Reform Bill in 1831, officiating as secretary to the Reform Committee.

Delta's fame as an author, particularly one of Scottish subject and pride, built for him a unique identity far removed from his daily life - but the diligent Dr Moir of Musselburgh was no less respected in the medical world and in his local community, this latter guise coming as something of a surprise to his literary peers.