Helen Hope (167719 April 1768) was a Scottish

forester A forester is a person who practises forestry, the science, art, and profession of managing forests. Foresters engage in a broad range of activities including ecological restoration and management of protected areas. Foresters manage forests to ...

and countess of Haddington through marriage. She planted many trees in

Haddingtonshire East Lothian (; sco, East Lowden; gd, Lodainn an Ear) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, as well as a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area. The county was called Haddingtonshire until 1921. In 1975, the histo ...

and created Binning Wood at

Tyninghame Tyninghame is a small settlement in East Lothian, Scotland, about two miles north-east of East Linton. Together with the nearby settlement of Whitekirk, it gives its name to the parish of Whitekirk and Tyninghame. Tyninghame Tyninghame is ...

Early life

Helen Hope was born to Lady Margaret Hamilton and John Hope in

Kirkliston Kirkliston is a small town and parish to the west of Edinburgh, Scotland, historically within the county of West Lothian but now within the City of Edinburgh council limits. It lies on high ground immediately north of a northward loop of the Al ...

Linlithgowshire West Lothian ( sco, Wast Lowden; gd, Lodainn an Iar) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, and was one of its shires of Scotland, historic counties. The county was called Linlithgowshire until 1925. The historic county was bounded geogra ...

. She was baptized on 28 September 1677. Hope's brother Charles was born in 1681 and later became a peer and governor of the

Bank of Scotland The Bank of Scotland plc (Scottish Gaelic: ''Banca na h-Alba'') is a commercial and clearing bank based in Scotland and is part of the Lloyds Banking Group, following the Bank of Scotland's implosion in 2008. The bank was established by th ...

. When she was five, her father drowned whilst travelling with the Duke of York (later to be

King James VII James VII and II (14 October 1633 16 September 1701) was King of England and King of Ireland as James II, and King of Scotland as James VII from the death of his elder brother, Charles II, on 6 February 1685. He was deposed in the Gloriou ...

of Scotland). Her mother arranged her marriage to her first cousin Thomas Hamilton, 6th Earl of Haddington in 1696, at which point she became the countess of Haddington.

Career

Hope lived with her husband at

Leslie House Leslie House in Leslie, Fife was the largest and earliest Restoration house in Fife, Scotland. The building was gutted in a 2009 fire. Several of the buildings are listed. Sir Robert Spencer Nairn acquired the house in 1919 and in 1952, donated ...

in Fife and had the first of four children, who was named Charles and had the title of Lord Binning from birth. Charles would become a politician and

Knight Marshal The Knight Marshal is a former office in the British Royal Household established by King Henry III in 1236. The position later became a Deputy to the Earl Marshal from the reign of King Henry VIII until the office was abolished in 1846. The Kni ...

of Scotland. In 1700, the family moved to the earl's ancestral home,

Tyninghame House Tyninghame House is a mansion in East Lothian, Scotland. It is located by the mouth of the River Tyne, east of Tyninghame, and west of Dunbar. There was a manor at Tyninghame in 1094, and it was later a property of the Lauder of The Bass fami ...

. Hope immediately wanted to plant trees despite the initial disinterest of her husband and local people. She decided to plant trees on the moorland of

and call it Binning Wood in honour of her son. The estate was planted with 50 species of tree. In addition, she created a wilderness zone and a

bowling green A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls. Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep ...

from where 14 walks began. Her husband wrote ''Short Treatise on Forest Trees'' (published posthumously in 1756 and later reissued as ''Treatise on the Manner of Raising Forest Trees'' in 1761), in which he praised Hope's efforts.

Death and legacy

Hope died in Edinburgh on 19 April 1768 at the age of 90. She was buried alongside her husband (who had predeceased her) at Tyninghame. An obelisk constructed in 1856 by

Thomas Hamilton, 9th Earl of Haddington Thomas Hamilton, 9th Earl of Haddington, KT, PC, FRS, FRSE (21 June 1780 – 1 December 1858), known as Lord Binning from 1794 to 1828, was a Scottish Conservative statesman. Background and education Lord Haddington was the only son of Lady ...

pays tribute to the couple's extensive planting. Binning Wood was clearfelled in the 1940s as part of the war effort. The Landowners’ Co-operative Society Limited of Edinburgh recorded 89% of the wood was hardwood (oak and beech) and the remainder was softwood, mainly Scots pine. Some of the beechwood was used to construct de Havilland Mosquito fighter planes. It was replanted in a program which took until 1960 to complete, with the trees mainly being Scots pine since hardwood seedlings were not available. The earl of Haddington ensured the original 1707 layout was adhered to and the work was done by Italian prisoners of war. In the 2010s, part of the wood became a green funeral site, with individual plots costing £950.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hope, Helen 1677 births 1768 deaths Scottish foresters People from West Lothian Horticulturists 17th-century gardeners 18th-century gardeners 17th-century Scottish women 18th-century Scottish women Haddington Women in forestry