William Thom

William Thom (1788 – 29 February 1848) was a Scottish poet who wrote in the Scots language. He was author of The Mitherless Bairn and other works. He was known as the "Inverury Poet".

Thom was a native of Aberdeen, where he worked as a handloom weaver, enduring considerable hardship and poverty.

He was born in Sinclair's Close, Justice Port, Aberdeen, in 1799 or 1800. His mother was a widow. He was educated at a school run by Elspet Davie before becoming apprenticed as a weaver. At the age of fourteen, he began work at the School Hill Mill, where he was employed until 1830. He sang in his workplace, and some of his early poems were published in the Aberdeen Herald, Aberdeen Journal and Whistle-Binkie.