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 were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...

'' Auld Robin Gray''. Her five-year residence in

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, 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 Fife ( , ; ; ) is a council areas of Scotland, council area and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in Scotland. A peninsula, it is bordered by the Firth of Tay to the north, the North Sea to the east, the Firth of Forth to the s ...

, the first of nine children of Anne Lindsay (née Dalrymple) and James Lindsay, 5th Earl of Balcarres. Her mother arranged for Henrietta Cumming to be the governess to Anne and her sisters Margaret, and Elizabeth Lindsay. Anne later noted that Cumming was unusual. She refused to eat at all until she was allowed to eat with the family. She wanted to look after her charges and she was annoyed when she offered payment. Cumming (later Fordyce) served until the early 1780s. In 1793, Anne moved to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, 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,

Bishop of Limerick The Bishop of Limerick is an Episcopal polity, episcopal title which takes its name after the city of Limerick in the Province of Munster, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. In the Roman Catholic Church, Catholic Church it still continues as a sepa ...

. 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 The Cape of Good Hope ( ) is a rocky headland on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A List of common misconceptions#Geography, common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Afri ...

, 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 A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble. This i ...

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 at

Berkeley Square Berkeley Square is a garden square in the West End of London. It is one of the best known of the many squares in London, located in Mayfair in the City of Westminster. It was laid out in the mid 18th century by the architect William Kent, ...

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 and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European literature, European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'' (18 ...

(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. According to the Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women, Lindsay's song began as a song sung by Sophia Johnston of Hilton . American composer Florence Turner-Maley 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 Newlands may refer to: Places Australia * Newlands, Queensland, a locality in the Whitsunday Region * Newlands, Western Australia, a town in the Shire of Donnybrook–Balingup Ireland * Newlands Cross, Dublin, named after the former 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. London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1910 a
A Celebration of Women Writers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barnard, Anne 1750 births 1825 deaths Nobility from Fife 18th-century Scottish poets 19th-century Scottish poets 19th-century Scottish women writers 18th-century Scottish women writers Scottish women poets Lallans poets Scottish poems Daughters of Scottish earls