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''. 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 larges ...

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

, 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 (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross ...

, the first of nine children of Anne Lindsay (née Dalrymple) and James Lindsay, 5th Earl of Balcarres. 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 ...

. 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 ( af, Kaap die Goeie Hoop ) ;''Kaap'' in isolation: pt, Cabo da Boa Esperança is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is ...

, 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 Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. The title originates in the Old English word ''eorl'', meaning "a man of noble birth or rank". The word is cognate with the Scandinavian form '' jarl'', and meant " chieftain", partic ...

. 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 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 Claremont may refer to: Places Australia *Claremont, Ipswich, a heritage-listed house in Queensland * Claremont, Tasmania, a suburb of Hobart * Claremont, Western Australia, a suburb of Perth ** Claremont Football Club, West Australian Footba ...

. 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 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