Marion Paul Aird

Aird, Marion Paul, born at Glasgow, 1815, where she resided for some time, and then proceeded to Kilmarnock, where her Home of the Heart and other Poems Moral and Religious were published 1846-1863, her Heart Histories, Violets from Greenwood, &c, in prose and verse , 1853, and Sun and Shade, 1860. Miss Aird is included in J. G. Wilson's Poets and Poetry of Scotland, 1876, vol. ii. p. 389. Very few of her hymns are in common use, amongst these is "Had I the wings of a dove, I would fly?”

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

=====================

The Modern Scottish Minstrel

The following is from Volume V of The Modern Scottish Minstrel; Or, The Songs of Scotland of the Past Half Century in Six Volumes:
Marion Paul Aird

The accomplished and amiable author of "Heart Histories" and other poems, Marion Paul Aird, is a native of Glasgow. Her paternal ancestors were respectable yeomen in the Carrick district of Ayrshire. Her mother, a niece of Hamilton Paul, formerly noticed, was descended from a race of opulent landowners in the district of Cunningham. In her youth, Miss Aird had her abode in a romantic cottage at Govan Hill, in the vicinity of Glasgow. For a number of years she has resided in Kilmarnock. She early studied the British poets, and herself wrote verses. In 1846 she published a duodecimo volume of poems and lyrics, entitled "The Home of the Heart, and other Poems;" this was followed in 1853 by a volume of prose and verse, under the title of "Heart Histories." She has two new volumes of poetry ready for the press. Her poetry is largely pervaded by religious fervour and devoted earnestness.

--http://www.scotsites.co.uk/ebooks/modernminstrelmarionpaulaird.htm