Janet Hamilton (12 October 1795 – 27 October 1873) was a nineteenth-century Scottish

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wr ...

Life

Janet was born as Janet Thomson at Carshill,

Shotts Shotts is a town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is located almost halfway between Glasgow () and Edinburgh (). The village has a population of about 8,840. A local story has Shotts being named after the legendary giant highwayman Bertram de ...

parish,

Lanarkshire Lanarkshire, also called the County of Lanark ( gd, Siorrachd Lannraig; sco, Lanrikshire), is a historic county, lieutenancy area and registration county in the central Lowlands of Scotland. Lanarkshire is the most populous county in Scot ...

in October 1795, the daughter of a

shoemaker Shoemaking is the process of making footwear. Originally, shoes were made one at a time by hand, often by groups of shoemakers, or cobblers (also known as ''cordwainers''). In the 18th century, dozens or even hundreds of masters, journeymen a ...

(James Thomson) and Mary Thomson (née Brownlee). She was a descendant of John Whitelaw, the forfeited covenanter from Shotts. At the age of three her family moved to Hamilton, and then to Langloan, in the parish of Old Monkland, Lanarkshire at the age of seven. For a time her parents became farm labourers, and she

span Span may refer to: Science, technology and engineering * Span (unit), the width of a human hand * Span (engineering), a section between two intermediate supports * Wingspan, the distance between the wingtips of a bird or aircraft * Sorbitan es ...

and worked at the tambour-frame. Her father at length settled down in business for himself as a shoemaker, and John Hamilton, one of his young workmen, married Janet in 1809 in

High Street High Street is a common street name for the primary business street of a city, town, or village, especially in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. It implies that it is the focal point for business, especially shopping. It is also a metonym ...

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated pop ...

, when Janet was thirteen. They lived together at Langloan for about sixty years, and had a family of ten children, seven sons and three daughters, all of whom she taught to read, starting with the alphabet. John Hamilton's sister (Margaret Hamilton) married Thomas Shanks. From this line of descendants Janet has many living great-great-great-grandnieces and nephews, some of whom are still being named after her. Having learned to read as a girl, she became familiar with the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts o ...

, with

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

and

Milton Milton may refer to: Names * Milton (surname), a surname (and list of people with that surname) ** John Milton (1608–1674), English poet * Milton (given name) ** Milton Friedman (1912–2006), Nobel laureate in Economics, author of '' Free ...

, with many standard histories, biographies, and essays, and with the poems of Allan Ramsay,

Robert Fergusson Robert Fergusson (5 September 1750 – 16 October 1774) was a Scottish poet. After formal education at the University of St Andrews, Fergusson led a Bohemianism, bohemian life in Edinburgh, the city of his birth, then at the height of intel ...

and

Robert Burns Robert Burns (25 January 175921 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who ha ...

. Before she was twenty years old, she had written numerous verses on religious themes, but family cares prevented further composition until she was about fifty-four. Then she began to write essays for a supplement to Cassell's ''Working Man's Friend'', as well as poems in English and Scots and reminiscences of village and rural Scotland during her youth. During the last 18 years of her life she was blind, and her husband and one of her daughters, Marion (28 January 1824 - 28 February 1900), read to her. A son, James (12 August 1814 - 5 November 1882), served as her amanuensis. She died on 27 October 1873, aged 78, having never been "more than twenty miles from her dwelling". A large crowd of people attended her funeral, and a memorial fountain has been placed nearly opposite her cottage. She was buried in Old Monklands Cemetery in

Coatbridge Coatbridge ( sco, Cotbrig or Coatbrig, gd, Drochaid a' Chòta) is a town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, about east of Glasgow city centre, set in the central Lowlands. Along with neighbouring town Airdrie, Coatbridge forms the area known a ...

on 30 October 1873. Also on her tombstone is her husband James, her sons James and Archibald (27 June 1810 - 6 June 1890), and Marion with Janet's grandson through Marion, George Hamilton (19 March 1875 - 1939).

Works

* ''Poems and essays of a miscellaneous character on subjects of general interest''. 1863 Glasgow * ''Poems of purpose and sketches in prose of Scottish peasant life and character in auld lang syne, sketches of local scenes and characters : with a glossary'' 1865. Glasgow. * ''Poems and Ballads''. With introductory papers by G. Gilfillan and A. Wallace. 1868. Glasgow * ''Poems, essays, and sketches''. 1870. Glasgow A compilation of the best of the 1863 and 1865 poetry books. * ''Pictures in Prose and Verse; or, Personal recollections of the late Janet Hamilton'' .. together with several hitherto unpublished poetic pieces. 1877. Edited by John Young. Glasgow. * ''On the Death of Matthew Gardiner DD'' (1865)

References

Attribution

Sources

* ''Pictures in Prose and Verse; or, Personal recollections of the late Janet Hamilton'' .. together with several hitherto unpublished poetic pieces. 1877. Glasgow. Pages 1–41 * ''Poems, sketches and essays''. 1880. Glasgow. Introduction to Janet Hamilton's life and character by Rev.

George Gilfillan __NOTOC__ Rev George Gilfillan (30 January 1813 – 13 August 1878) was a Scottish author and poet. One of the spasmodic poets, Gilfillan was also an editor and commentator, with memoirs, critical dissertations in many editions of earlier Britis ...

. * ''Janet Hamilton. and other papers''. By Joseph Wright. 1889 Edinburgh *

Wilson, James Grant James Grant Wilson (April 28, 1832 – February 1, 1914) was an American editor, author, bookseller and publisher, who founded the ''Chicago Record'' in 1857, the first literary paper in that region. During the American Civil War, he served as ...

. ''Poets and Poetry of Scotland. Volume 2'' 1876 Pages 149-151. * Murdoch, Alexander G. ''Recent and Living Scottish Poets.'' 1883 Pages 334-337. * Eyre-Todd, George. ''Glasgow poets''. 1903 Pages 224-233. * Edwards, D. H. ''One Hundred Modern Scottish Poets''. 1880 Pages 248-259 * Boos, Florence. Memoirs of Victorian Working-Class Women: The Hard Way Up. Palgrave, 2017. Chapter 4 is devoted to Hamilton's "Sketches of Village Life." * Boos, Florence S., ed. ''Working-Class Women Poets in Victorian Britain: An Anthology.'' Broadview Press, 2008. This contains a selection of Hamilton poems in Scots and English with glosses and biographical materials.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hamilton, Janet 1795 births 1873 deaths Scottish women poets Scottish women writers People from Shotts Place of death missing 19th-century poets 19th-century British women writers 19th-century British writers