Lady Anne Barnard (née Lindsay; 8 December 17506 May 1825) was a Scottish travel writer, artist and socialite, and the author of the

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

Auld Robin Gray Auld Robin Gray is the title of a Scots ballad written by the Scottish poet Lady Anne Lindsay in 1772. Robin Gray is a good old man who marries a young woman already in love with a man named Jamie. Jamie goes away to sea in order to earn money s ...

''. Her five-year residence in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

, although brief, had a significant impact on the cultural and social life of the time.''The Claremont Clarion'' (June, 2010)

Early life

Lady Anne Lindsay was born at Balcarres House in Fife, the first of nine children of Anne Lindsay (née Dalrymple) and

James Lindsay, 5th Earl of Balcarres James Lindsay, 5th Earl of Balcarres (14 November 1691 – 20 February 1768) was a Scottish peer, the son of Colin Lindsay, 3rd Earl of Balcarres and Lady Margaret Campbell, daughter of the Earl of Loudoun. He became the 5th Earl of Balcarres on ...

. In 1793, she moved to

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 ...

, where she met and was married to Andrew Barnard, becoming Lady Anne Barnard. Her husband was twelve years her junior and the son of

Thomas Barnard Thomas Barnard (–1806) was an Anglican clergyman who served in the Church of Ireland as Bishop of Killaloe and Kilfenora (1780–1794) and Bishop of Limerick, Ardfert and Aghadoe (1794–1806). Born in 1726 or 1728, he was the eldest son of ...

Bishop of Limerick The Bishop of Limerick is an episcopal title which takes its name after the city of Limerick in the Province of Munster, Ireland. In the Roman Catholic Church it still continues as a separate title, but in the Church of Ireland it has been un ...

. She later obtained from

Viscount Melville Viscount Melville, of Melville in the County of Edinburgh, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. Origins The title was created on 24 December 1802 for the notable lawyer and politician Henry Dundas. He was created Baron Dunira, ...

an appointment for him as colonial secretary at the Cape of Good Hope, which was then under British military occupation.

Stay at the Cape

The Barnards travelled to the Cape in March 1797, Lady Anne remaining there until January 1802. This cites the memoir edited by Wilkins (see "External links"). Her letters written to Melville, then secretary for war and the colonies, and her diaries of travels into the interior have become an important source of information about the people, events and social life of the time. She is also retained in popular memory as a socialite, known for entertaining at the

Castle of Good Hope The Castle of Good Hope ( nl, Kasteel de Goede Hoop; af, Kasteel die Goeie Hoop) known locally as the Castle or Cape Town Castle is a bastion fort built in the 17th century in Cape Town, South Africa. Originally located on the coastline of T ...

as the official hostess of Earl Macartney. The remarkable series of letters, journals and drawings she produced was published in 1901 under the title ''South Africa a Century Ago''.

Later life

In 1806, on the reconquest of the Cape by the British, Andrew Barnard was reappointed colonial secretary, but Anne chose to remain in London rather than accompany him to the Cape. Andrew died there in 1807, and the remainder of Anne's life was passed in London, where she died on 6 May 1825.

Other works

Lady Anne was also an accomplished artist, some of her works being included in her published accounts of life in the 18th and 19th centuries. Her works include oil paintings and drawings. The Rev. William Leeves revealed in 1812 that ''Auld Robin Gray'' had been written by her in 1772 and set to music by him. It was published anonymously in 1783, Lady Anne only acknowledging the authorship of the words two years before her death in a letter to Sir

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 ...

(1823), who subsequently edited it for the

Bannatyne Club The Bannatyne Club, named in honour of George Bannatyne and his famous anthology of Scots literature the Bannatyne Manuscript, was a text publication society founded by Sir Walter Scott to print rare works of Scottish interest, whether in history ...

with two continuations. American composer

Florence Turner-Maley Florence Turner-Maley (August 23, 1871 – January 3, 1962) was an American composer, singer, and teacher. Florence Turner was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, to William Hayward and Mathilde (Holwill) Turner. Her father had been a boy soprano. ...

used text by Lady Anne for her song "In a Garden Wild", published in 1921.

Legacy

Lady Anne is commemorated in several ways in

. A chamber in the Castle of Good Hope is known as "Lady Anne Barnard's Ballroom"; a road in the suburb of Newlands, where the Barnards lived, is named "Lady Anne Avenue" and a carved sculpture of her is displayed in the foyer of the civic centre in the neighbouring suburb of Claremont. The Barnards' country house, The Vineyard, survives as part of a hotel.

References

External links

*
Sheet Music for ''Auld Robin Gray''

by Barnard, Anne Lindsay, Lady, 1750–1825, editor

William Henry Wilkins William Henry Wilkins (1860–1905) was an English writer, best known as a royal biographer and campaigner for immigration controls. He used the pseudonym W. H. de Winton. Life Born at Compton Martin, Somerset, on 23 December 1860, he was son o ...

. London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1910 a
A Celebration of Women Writers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barnard, Anne 1750 births 1825 deaths 18th-century Scottish poets 19th-century Scottish poets 19th-century Scottish women writers 18th-century Scottish women writers Scottish women poets Lallans poets People from Fife Scottish poems Daughters of Scottish earls