Lady Mary Hamilton or Lady Mary Walker (''née'' Leslie; 8 May 1736 – 29 February 1821) was a
Scottish novelist of the 18th century. She was the youngest daughter of
Alexander Leslie, 5th Earl of Leven
Alexander Melville (also Alexander Leslie), 5th Earl of Leven (28 May 1695 – 2 September 1754) was a Scottish aristocrat.
Early life
He was the son of David Melville, 3rd Earl of Leven (1660–1728) and Lady Anne Wemyss (1675–1702).
His mo ...
and the mother of
James Walker, a
Rear admiral
Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regarde ...
in the British
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
.
Her works included discussions of philosophy, education and art. Advanced in thinking for the time period, she was a strong advocate of education for women. Her most successful novel, ''Munster Village'' (1778), centres on a utopian garden city populated with
fallen women
"Fallen woman" is an archaic term which was used to describe a woman who has "lost her innocence", and fallen from the grace of God. In 19th-century Britain especially, the meaning came to be closely associated with the loss or surrender of a w ...
and females escaping disastrous marriages.
Jane Austen
Jane Austen (; 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily for her six major novels, which interpret, critique, and comment upon the British landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. Austen's plots of ...
may have been influenced by her writings, taking the same names as some of Lady Mary's characters.
Family and personal life
![Mellville House - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5f/Mellville_House_-_geograph.org.uk_-_715259.jpg)
Lady Mary Leslie was born at
Melville House
Melville House is a 1697 house that lies to the south side of the Palace of Monimail near Collessie in Fife, Scotland. It has been a school and a training base for Polish soldiers who had arrived in Scotland after the 51st Highland Division ...
, Fife, Scotland on 8 May 1736, the youngest daughter of
Alexander Leslie, fifth earl of Leven and Melville, by his second wife Elizabeth, daughter of David Monypenny.
On 3 January 1762, Lady Mary was married to Dr. James Walker of Innerdovat, Fife. He was a physician based at Edinburgh's prison infirmary and heavily in debt. Though the marriage was unhappy, it was said to have produced ten children. At least half must have died in infancy; the ''Scots Peerage'', followed by McMillan, asserts three sons and one daughter though other sources point to two Walker daughters, Isabella (Bell) and Elizabeth (Betzy). (A grandson, Baron Adolphe Thiébault, raised questions about the paternity of Lady Mary's children, in an 1863 history.) Lady Mary was estranged from Walker, who moved alone to Jamaica in the 1770s to take up a position there as a prison physician.
Lady Mary turned to writing to provide for her family. She would later note to a friend that "with a family of young children… abandoned by their father," she was forced to "cloath, feed, and educate them". She thus needed to support herself, producing her first novel ''Letters from the Duchesse de Crui'' (1777).
Lady Mary had an affair with George Musgrave MP for Carlisle and together they had two children, Elizabeth born in 1767 and George born 1769.
Both children were brought up and married with the surname Walker. In 1816, by a private act Parliament, both were acknowledged by their father and adopted the surname Musgrave.
Lady Mary's Grandson the Rev George Musgrave Musgrave of Borden had been baptised George Musgrave Walker in Marylebone on the 25 July 1798.
Elizabeth had married
General Paul Thiébaut in Paris on 21st Nov 1793 but was divorced by 21 July 1804 to allow Paul Thiebaut to marry Elizabeth Chenais in Tours.
When George Musgrave MP wrote his will in 1822, his daughter was living with him in his house on Green Street, Marylebone, as Elizabeth Musgrave.
In James Maclean's 1963 book "Reward is Secondary" about the "Political Adventurer" Lauchlin Macleane it is suggested that Lauchlin was living with Lady Mary and she was pregnant when he left on his last trip to India.
Lauchlin drowned when his ship went down on his 1778 return trip in the bay of Biscay. Lady Mary's son Lt Col Leslie Walker was born 1778 and died in 1840.
Lady Mary was introduced by her husband to George Robinson Hamilton and – accounts vary – sometime after Walker's death, (alternatively, without divorcing Walker) she went away with or married Hamilton, a cousin of
Alexander Hamilton, 10th Duke of Hamilton
Alexander Hamilton, 10th Duke of Hamilton, 7th Duke of Brandon KG PC FRS FSA (3 October 1767 – 18 August 1852) was a Scottish politician and art collector.
Life
Born on 3 October 1767 at St. James's Square, London, a son of Archibald H ...
and owner of a sugar plantation in
Jamaica
Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...
. She took Hamilton's name, and she and George settled in Lille, France in 1782, where he is described as a cloth merchant and they as living in great style. Two of her daughters with Walker, Isabelle and Betzy, married respectively the dramatist
Victor-Joseph Étienne de Jouy
Victor-Joseph Étienne, called de Jouy (19 October 17644 September 1846), was a French dramatist who abandoned an early military career for a successful literary one.
Life
De Jouy was born at Versailles in 1764. At the age of eighteen he receiv ...
and
General Paul Thiébaut. Again, accounts vary: Lady Mary had two daughters with Hamilton, or had at least one surviving daughter with Hamilton, Sophia Saint John Hamilton Alderson.
George Hamilton died on 29 October 1797, and an analysis of his will demonstrates both that he and Mary were not married, and that James Walker was still alive in 1786. Hamilton made over all of his estate to Lady Mary, with the stipulation that the Jamaica estates were to be run for Mary's benefit by
James Hope-Johnstone, 3rd Earl of Hopetoun
James Hope-Johnstone, 3rd Earl of Hopetoun FRSE (23 August 1741 – 29 May 1816), known as Viscount Aithrie from 1742 to 1781, was a Scottish Representative Peer and military leader.
Life
Hopetoun was the son of John Hope, 2nd Earl of Hopetoun, ...
and
Alexander Leslie-Melville, 7th Earl of Leven
Alexander Leslie-Melville, 7th Earl of Leven (7 November 1749 – 22 February 1820) was a Scottish Whig politician and peer.
As the eldest son of David Melville, 6th Earl of Leven, he succeeded his father as Earl of Leven and Earl of Me ...
(Mary's nephew).
After Hamilton's death, Lady Mary lived near
Amiens
Amiens (English: or ; ; pcd, Anmien, or ) is a city and commune in northern France, located north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme department in the region of Hauts-de-France. In 2021, the population of ...
, where she was very close to the writer
Sir Herbert Croft. Croft was an eccentric English scholar who had compiled dictionaries, and the two lived there together as friends. Her daughter Bell and son-in-law Jouy visited them often. Croft introduced her to his secretary,
Charles Nodier
Jean Charles Emmanuel Nodier (29 April 1780 – 27 January 1844) was a French author and librarian who introduced a younger generation of Romanticists to the ''conte fantastique'', gothic literature, and vampire tales. His dream related writings ...
. Nodier translated ''Munster Village'' and helped her write another book in French, ''La famille du duc de Popoli'' or ''The Duc de Popoli'' (1810).
Despite her extensive holdings in Jamaica, little or no income was earned from them and the Croft household was poor. In 1815, (in alternate sources, at age 75) she went to Jamaica, as she believed she was being cheated financially out of some of her husband's estates, which had produced £3000 per annum but were now yielding £400. After her return – Croft having died in April 1816 – she lived with her daughter Sophia Alderson, who was widowed. Lady Mary died in
Brompton, Middlesex near London on 28 February 1821, although some sources such as McMillan specify an 1822 date of death. The discrepancy may arise out of a delay in proving Lady Mary's will, which took until 5 July 1822 to be settled in favour of Sophia and her son Lieutenant-Colonel Leslie Walker. Her son
James Walker, a
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
officer, achieved the rank of
Rear-Admiral
Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regarded ...
.
A final conjecture concerning Lady Mary and her daughter Sophia is made by Wicks, that Sophia may have had an illegitimate daughter in 1805, fathered by
Ugo Foscolo
Ugo Foscolo (; 6 February 177810 September 1827), born Niccolò Foscolo, was an Italian writer, revolutionary and a poet.
He is especially remembered for his 1807 long poem ''Dei Sepolcri''.
Early life
Foscolo was born in Zakynthos in the Io ...
, and that the child, Floriana, was adopted and raised by Lady Mary (leaving Sophia free to marry). On Mary's death, Floriana was entrusted to the care of her father, and some or all of Sophia's inheritance was directed to Foscolo to provide for Floriana. That Ugo and Sophia had a daughter is supported by Traversa; and analysed, doubted but not discounted by Vincent. If true, then a corollary is that Lady Mary and family lived for some time in
Valenciennes
Valenciennes (, also , , ; nl, label=also Dutch, Valencijn; pcd, Valincyinnes or ; la, Valentianae) is a commune in the Nord department, Hauts-de-France, France.
It lies on the Scheldt () river. Although the city and region experienced a s ...
, before moving to Amiens.
Literary analysis
Her most successful work, ''Munster Village'' (1778), centres on a utopian garden city and features themes of intellectual equality, especially in marriage. Historian
Dorothy McMillan
Dorothy A. McMillan (19432021) was a British literary scholar. An expert on Scottish women's writing, McMillan edited several anthologies, as well as editions of work by George Douglas Brown, Jane Austen, Mary Somerville, Robert Browning and Su ...
writes that "the novel was one of the earlier works of the period to feature an ideal community". Hamilton creates the village from scratch and it is populated by
fallen women
"Fallen woman" is an archaic term which was used to describe a woman who has "lost her innocence", and fallen from the grace of God. In 19th-century Britain especially, the meaning came to be closely associated with the loss or surrender of a w ...
and females escaping disastrous marriages. The community survives because it is driven by the exchange of kindness. Christine Rees has termed it "a drama of family relationships" which features the strong "moral sentiment" common of many 18th century writers. However McMillan argues that "the writing is marred by sententiousness and relentless intellectual name-dropping".
Contemporary reviews of her books were in the main very favourable. ''The Critical Review'', edited by
Tobias Smollett
Tobias George Smollett (baptised 19 March 1721 – 17 September 1771) was a Scottish poet and author. He was best known for picaresque novels such as ''The Adventures of Roderick Random'' (1748), ''The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle'' (1751) a ...
, met the publication of the ''Letters from the Duchesse de Crui'' with high approbation – "the solidity of her remarks might do honour to those of the opposite sex" – and were equally approving of ''Memoirs of the Marchioness de Louvoi''. ''The Monthly Review'' commends the "just observations, useful reflections and pertinent allusions to natural and civil history" found in ''Memoirs of the Marchioness de Louvoi''. However its review of ''The Life of Mrs. Justman'' is scathing, speaking of the "absurd, incoherent and contradictory political reasoning with which these volumes abound" and finding its best feature to be that 75 pages of the manuscript were destroyed by fire.
Lady Mary's writings included discussions of philosophy, education and art. However, McMillan posits that her works "have little to offer modern readers" and ''
The Cambridge Guide to Women's Writing in English
''The Cambridge Guide to Women's Writing in English'' is a biographical dictionary of women writers and women's writing in English published by Cambridge University Press in 1999 (). It was edited by Lorna Sage, with Germaine Greer and Elaine Sho ...
'' has critiqued her stories for plagiarizing from others. Alessa Johns also notes the plagiarism but argues that rather than be a self-serving attribute, it reflects Lady Mary's view of a "public-spirited will to share and democratize" ideas and a sincere form of flattery. Indeed, one of her characters in ''Letters from the Duchesse de Crui'' says to not call her "a plagiarist... from whatever author I may have borrowed them, I shall give their names, when I recollect them: but to trace the origin of my ideas, would be an endless task".
Nevertheless, Lady Mary's views on marriage and equality show that she was advanced for her time period. She was a strong advocate of women's education. Hamilton's stories may have influenced
Jane Austen
Jane Austen (; 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily for her six major novels, which interpret, critique, and comment upon the British landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. Austen's plots of ...
, as the English author included several of Hamilton's names in her works: Bennet and Bingley in ''
Pride and Prejudice
''Pride and Prejudice'' is an 1813 novel of manners by Jane Austen. The novel follows the character development of Elizabeth Bennet, the dynamic protagonist of the book who learns about the repercussions of hasty judgments and comes to appreci ...
'', and Dashwood in ''
Sense and Sensibility
''Sense and Sensibility'' is a novel by Jane Austen, published in 1811. It was published anonymously; ''By A Lady'' appears on the title page where the author's name might have been. It tells the story of the Dashwood sisters, Elinor (age 19) a ...
''. Johns observes that Hamilton's feminist utopian ideas also influenced
Mary Wollstonecraft
Mary Wollstonecraft (, ; 27 April 1759 – 10 September 1797) was a British writer, philosopher, and advocate of women's rights. Until the late 20th century, Wollstonecraft's life, which encompassed several unconventional personal relationsh ...
and
Catharine Macaulay
Catharine Macaulay (née Sawbridge, later Graham; 23 March 1731 – 22 June 1791), was an English Whig republican historian.
Early life
Catharine Macaulay was a daughter of John Sawbridge (1699–1762) and his wife Elizabeth Wanley (died 1733 ...
.
A collection of her papers is held by
Yale University Library
The Yale University Library is the library system of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Originating in 1701 with the gift of several dozen books to a new "Collegiate School," the library's collection now contains approximately 14.9 milli ...
.
Works
![The Duc de Popoli - Title Page](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/18/The_Duc_de_Popoli_-_Title_Page.jpg)
She published the following works:
#''Letters from the Duchesse de Crui'', 1777
#''Memoirs of the Marchioness de Louvoi'', 1777
#''Munster Village'', 1778
#''The Life of Mrs. Justman'', 1782
#''The Duc de Popoli'', 1810
References
;Works cited
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External links
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*''Letters from the Duchesse de Crui'':
Preview(limited pages) from
Google Books
Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical c ...
**Full texts o
Volume 1Volume 3Volume 4an
Volume 5from Hathi Trust Digital Library
*Full text o
''Memoirs of the Marchioness De Louvoi''volume 1, from the
Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
*Full text of
Munster Village' from the
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...
*Full text of
La famille du duc de Popoli' from the
Austrian National Library
The Austrian National Library (german: Österreichische Nationalbibliothek) is the largest library in Austria, with more than 12 million items in its various collections. The library is located in the Neue Burg Wing of the Hofburg in center of V ...
*
Lady Mary Hamilton Papers. James Marshall and Marie-Louise Osborn Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamilton, Mary
1736 births
1821 deaths
18th-century Scottish novelists
People from Fife
Scottish women novelists
18th-century British women writers
18th-century British writers
Daughters of Scottish earls