Agnes Maxwell MacLeod (1783–1879) also known as Mrs. Norman MacLeod was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

poet. She is best known as the author of the ballad '' Sound the Pibroch''.

Life

Agnes Maxwell was born on the

Isle of Mull The Isle of Mull ( gd, An t-Eilean Muileach ) or just Mull (; gd, Muile, links=no ) is the second-largest island of the Inner Hebrides (after Skye) and lies off the west coast of Scotland in the Council areas of Scotland, council area of Arg ...

, in the

Inner Hebrides The Inner Hebrides (; Scottish Gaelic: ''Na h-Eileanan a-staigh'', "the inner isles") is an archipelago off the west coast of mainland Scotland, to the south east of the Outer Hebrides. Together these two island chains form the Hebrides, whic ...

. In her early youth, she lived with an uncle and aunt in Drumdrissaig, on the western coast of Knapdale. When of age, she went to an Edinburgh

finishing school A finishing school focuses on teaching young women social graces and upper-class cultural rites as a preparation for entry into society. The name reflects that it follows on from ordinary school and is intended to complete the education, wit ...

, then returned to Mull. She met Rev. Norman MacLeod, a Church of Scotland minister and married him four years later. She spent the next nearly-sixty years as a minister's wife in

Campbeltown Campbeltown (; gd, Ceann Loch Chille Chiarain or ) is a town and former royal burgh in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It lies by Campbeltown Loch on the Kintyre peninsula. Campbeltown became an important centre for Scotch whisky, and a busy fishing ...

, Campsie, and at St Columba Church in Glasgow. She was the wife of a poet and the mother of poets, and a poet herself. She would go on to write and compile a poetry collection called ''Songs of the North'', that would be edited by her granddaughter Annie Campbell MacLeod Wilson, Harold Boulton, and Malcolm Lawson, and which was dedicated to Queen Victoria. One of the songs it contains is '' Sound the Pibroch'', which is about the Jacobite Uprising of 1745, and which has since been recorded by The Corries and many other Scottish folk music bands.

References

1783 births 1879 deaths 19th-century Scottish poets 19th-century Scottish women writers Calvinist and Reformed poets People from the Isle of Mull Scottish women poets Jacobite poets {{Scotland-poet-stub