Elizabeth Smith (née Elizabeth Grant of Rothiemurchus; 7 May 1797 – 16 November 1885) was a Scottish diarist and lady of the manor of

Baltyboys House Baltyboys House, also known as Boystown House, is an 18th-century Georgian architecture, Georgian country house in Blessington, County Wicklow, Ireland. Baltyboys House is a mansion built in the Georgian architecture, Georgian style. The estate ...

. Over the course of her life, she lived in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

Life

Grant was born in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

in 1797. Her father was

John Peter Grant Sir John Peter Grant, GCMG, KCB, (28 November 1807 – 6 January 1893), was a British colonial administrator who served as Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal (1859–1862) and as Governor of Jamaica. Life John Peter Grant was born in London on 28 ...

and Member of Parliament. Her brother, Sir John Peter Grant, was the father of Jane Maria Strachey. As a child, she primarily spent time on her family's estate, Rothiemurchus, in

Strathspey Strathspey may refer to one of the following: * Strathspey, Scotland, an area in the Highlands of Scotland * Strathspey Camanachd Strathspey Camanachd is a shinty club based in Grantown-on-Spey, Strathspey, Scotland, currently competing in the ...

, and in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. She and her family moved to

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second-m ...

in 1827. She married Colonel Henry Smith in 1829.Christine Lodge, ‘Smith , Elizabeth (1797–1885)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 200
accessed 24 November 2017
/ref> They had three children; Janey, Annie, and Jack. She is known today for the journals that she wrote from the 1840s when she was living in France. However she published in magazines anonymously during her life to supplement her family's income. In her later years Grant moved to

, her husband's family's estate in

Blessington Blessington, historically known as Ballycomeen (, from the Irish surname ''Ó Coimín''), is a town on the River Liffey in County Wicklow, Ireland, near the border with County Kildare. It is around 25 km south-west of Dublin, and is sit ...

, County Wicklow, Ireland. She wrote about managing the estate, establishing a school for local families, and the struggles of local peasants during the Great Famine. Grant died at Baltyboys House. ''Memoirs of a Highland Lady'' was originally written as a private memoir for her family. The first public edition was only made available after her death. She is the great-grandmother of ballet dancer

Dame Ninette de Valois Dame Ninette de Valois (born Edris Stannus; 6 June 1898 – 8 March 2001) was an Irish-born British dancer, teacher, choreographer, and director of classical ballet. Most notably, she danced professionally with Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, ...

Work

The first edition of ''Memoirs of A Highland Lady'' was published with the consent of Grant's daughter in 1898. It was edited and abridged by Grant's niece, Jane Maria Strachey. The first edition was printed four times in the space of one year, with succeeding editions following in 1911 (reprinted in 1928) and 1950. However, the first complete and authentic edition was not published until 1988.

References

Citations

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Grant, Elizabeth 1797 births 1885 deaths 19th-century Scottish writers 19th-century British women writers 19th-century British writers Scottish diarists Writers from Edinburgh Women diarists

Elizabeth Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to: People * Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name) * Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist Ships * HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships * ''Elisabeth'' (sch ...

19th-century diarists