Alison Cockburn also Alison Rutherford, or Alicia Cockburn (8 October 171222 November 1794) was a Scottish poet, wit and socialite who collected a circle of eminent friends in 18th-century enlightenment Edinburgh including

Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels '' Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy ...

Robert Burns Robert Burns (25 January 175921 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who hav ...

and

David Hume David Hume (; born David Home; 7 May 1711 NS (26 April 1711 OS) – 25 August 1776) Cranston, Maurice, and Thomas Edmund Jessop. 2020 999br>David Hume" ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Retrieved 18 May 2020. was a Scottish Enlightenment phil ...

Life

Born at Fairnilee House, in the Scottish Borders, between

Galashiels Galashiels (; sco, Gallae, gd, An Geal Àth) is a town in the Scottish Borders with a population of around 12,600. Its name is often colloquially shortened to "Gala". The town is a major commercial centre for the Borders region with extensive ...

and Selkirk, she was the daughter of Robert Rutherfurd of Fairnalee. She married an impoverished advocate, Patrick Cockburn of

Ormiston Ormiston is a village in East Lothian, Scotland, near Tranent, Humbie, Pencaitland and Cranston, located on the north bank of the River Tyne at an elevation of about . The village was the first planned village in Scotland, founded in 1735 ...

in 1731. Unable to afford a home of their own they lived for 4 years in the house of her elderly father-in-law, "an old Presbyterian of the deepest dye" who condemned as ungodly cards, plays, and dancing. On the death of the old man they moved to Edinburgh, and she began to mix in society where her liveliness and wit made her welcome in spite of her relatively lowly status. In 1745 during the

Jacobite rising , war = , image = Prince James Francis Edward Stuart by Louis Gabriel Blanchet.jpg , image_size = 150px , caption = James Francis Edward Stuart, Jacobite claimant between 1701 and 1766 , active ...

she vented her

Whiggism Whiggism (in North America sometimes spelled Whigism) is a political philosophy that grew out of the Parliamentarian faction in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms (1639–1651). The Whigs' key policy positions were the supremacy of Parliament (as ...

in a squib upon

Bonnie Prince Charlie Bonnie, is a Scottish given name and is sometimes used as a descriptive reference, as in the Scottish folk song, My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean. It comes from the Scots language word "bonnie" (pretty, attractive), or the French bonne (good). That ...

, and narrowly escaped being taken by the Highland guard as she was driving through Edinburgh in the family coach of the Keiths of Ravelston, with the parody in her pocket. This cites her ''Letters and Memorials ... with notes by T. Craig Brown'' (1900). Her husband died in 1753, and left her a small income. She continued to mix in artistic and intellectual circles from her home in Bristo Street, on Castle-hill, Edinburgh. Despite the added loss of her only son in infancy we are told of, "her insatiable love of mischief, mockery and match-making, everywhere welcome, both in town and country, a good companion, a wise friend, ready to jest over her own ailments." In 1765 she published her lyrics to the traditional Border Ballad the ''

Flowers of the Forest ''Flowers of the Forest'', or ''The Fluuers o the Forest'' (Roud 3812), is a Scottish folk tune and work of war poetry commemorating the defeat of the Scottish army, and the death of James IV, at the Battle of Flodden in September 1513. Although ...

'' beginning "I've seen the smiling of Fortune beguiling". It is said to have been written before her marriage in 1731 and concerns a financial crisis that had ruined the fortunes of a number of the Selkirk

Laird Laird () is the owner of a large, long-established Scottish estate. In the traditional Scottish order of precedence, a laird ranked below a baron and above a gentleman. This rank was held only by those lairds holding official recognition in ...

s. Later biographers, however, think it probable that it was written on the departure to London of a certain John Aikman, with whom Alison appears to have had an early attachment. Another later set of lyrics to the song by

Jean Elliot Jean Elliot (April 1727 – 29 March 1805), also known as Jane Elliot, was a Scottish poet. She wrote one of the most famous versions of '' The Flowers of the Forest'', a song lamenting the Scottish army's defeat in the Battle of Flodden. ...

of Minto written in 1756 is also in circulation and should not be confused with Rutherford's. In 1773 she was living at St Andrews Square in a then new house in

Edinburgh's New town The New Town is a central area of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. It was built in stages between 1767 and around 1850, and retains much of its original neo-classical and Georgian period architecture. Its best known street is Princes Stree ...

. In 1777 she remarked of a young

that he was "the most extraordinary genius of a boyo." She befriended

in 1786, whom she described as having "a most enthusiastic heart of love". She was a great friend of the philosopher

. She was an indefatigable letter-writer and a composer of parodies, squibs, toasts and "character sketches", then a favourite form of composition. The "Flowers of the Forest" however is considered the only thing she wrote that possesses lasting literary merit. At her house on Castlehill, and afterwards in Crichton Street, she received many illustrious friends, among whom were

Henry Mackenzie Henry Mackenzie FRSE (August 1745 – 14 January 1831, born and died in Edinburgh) was a Scottish lawyer, novelist and writer sometimes seen as the Addison of the North. While remembered mostly as an author, his main income came from legal rol ...

, William Robertson, David Hume, John Home,

Lord Monboddo James Burnett, Lord Monboddo (baptised 25 October 1714; died 26 May 1799) was a Scottish judge, scholar of linguistic evolution, philosopher and deist. He is most famous today as a founder of modern comparative historical linguistics. In 1767 ...

,Betteridge, R. & McLean, R. (2019), ''Northern Lights: The Scottish Enlightenment'', National Library of Scotland, p. 10 the Keiths of Ravelston, the Balcarres family and

Lady Anne Barnard Lady Anne Barnard (née Lindsay; 8 December 17506 May 1825) was a Scottish travel writer, artist and socialite, and the author of the ballad ''Auld Robin Gray''. Her five-year residence in Cape Town, South Africa, although brief, had a signific ...

, the author of "Auld Robin Gray." As a Rutherfurd she had a connexion with Sir Walter Scott's mother, and was her intimate friend. Lockhart quotes a letter written by Mrs Cockburn in 1777, describing the conduct of little Walter Scott, then scarcely six years old, during a visit which she paid to his mother, when the child gave as a reason for his liking for Mrs Cockburn that she was a "virtuoso like himself." Cockburn died on 22 November 1794. She is buried in the kirkyard of Buccleuch Parish Church (aka St. Cuthbert's Chapel of Ease) in south Edinburgh.

Bibliography

* Graham, H.G., ''The Social Life of Scotland in the Eighteenth Century'', A.&C. Black, London (1899). p. 331.

References

Sources

Alison Cockburn
Brief biography at Scotland's People database. Accessed May 2007

Volume IV page 149.

at the Gazetteer for Scotland. University of Edinburgh. Accessed May 2007

Women in History of Scots Descent – Song Writers. Accessed May 2007
Oxford Biography Index
Accessed May 2007 *

External links

Poem, words and melody. Accessed May 2007

Accessed May 2007 {{DEFAULTSORT:Cockburn, Alison 1712 births 1794 deaths Scottish women poets Scottish women writers Alison People of the Scottish Enlightenment 18th-century Scottish poets Scottish socialites People from the Scottish Borders 18th-century British women writers 18th-century British writers