James Pagan
James Pagan (18 October 1811 – 11 February 1870) was a Scottish reporter and managing editor for the Glasgow Herald and a noted antiquarian. He is credited with transitioning the Herald from a tri-weekly publication to one of the first daily newspapers in Scotland as well as greatly improving the standard of reporting in that country. Biography Early life James Pagan was born on 18 October 1811 in Trailflat, in the parish of Tinwald, near Dumfries. His father, also named James Pagan, was a bleacher. His mother was Elizabeth Blackstock. He was a relative of the poet Allan Cunningham, and kept up a frequent correspondence with his son, Peter.At a young age, his family moved to the town of Dumfries and he attended Dumfries Academy, where he learned a degree of Latin. Career in journalism After completing his education, Pagan was apprenticed as a compositor to The Dumfries and Galloway Courier, under John McDiarmid. He later became a local reporter for that newspaper and was noted as having a particularly engaging writing style. Having attended the funeral of Jean Armour, widow of Robert Burns and a close friend of Pagan's future wife, he produced for the Courier "an admirably graphic