Mary Monica Maxwell-Scott
The Hon. Mary Monica Maxwell-Scott (2 October 1852 – 15 March 1920) was a Scottish author of historical novels and non-fiction and the great-granddaughter of the novelist Walter Scott.
Early life
[edit]
She was born in Tunbridge Wells in Kent[1] as Mary Monica Hope Scott in 1852, the only surviving child of James Hope-Scott (1812-1873) and his wife Charlotte Harriet Jane née Lockhart (1827-1858), daughter of John Gibson Lockhart and grand-daughter of the noted Scottish novelist Sir Walter Scott. Until her own children were born Mary Monica was the only living descendant of Sir Walter Scott.
Career
[edit]In 1868, as the heir to her father, she applied for a loan of £2,000 to have the land at Abbotsford House drained; as a minor she received her father's consent for the loan.[2] On the death of her father in 1873 she inherited Abbotsford House, the home of Walter Scott.[3]
Like her great-grandfather, she became a writer of historical books. She also wrote a number of books about her famous ancestor including an authoritative guide to Scott’s collection of 'gabions' titled Abbotsford: a Guide to the Personal Relics and Possessions of Sir Walter Scott.[4]
Personal life
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In London in 1874 she married the Hon. Joseph Constable-Maxwell, third son of William, Lord Herries, following which the couple adopted the surname Maxwell-Scott. Together, they were the parents of eight children, five of whom survived her, including:
- Margaret Mary Lucy Constable-Maxwell-Scott (d. 1912)
- Sir Walter Constable-Maxwell-Scott, 1st Baronet (1875-1954), a Maj.-Gen.
- Mary Josephine Constable-Maxwell-Scott (1876-1922), who married Alexander Dalglish in 1897.[5]
- Winifride Mary Josephine Constable-Maxwell-Scott (1878-1880)
- Joseph Michael Constable-Maxwell-Scott (1880-1911)
- Malcolm Raphael Joseph Constable-Maxwell-Scott (1883-1943), a Rear-Admiral.
- Alice Mary Josephine Constable-Maxwell-Scott (1885-1908)
- Herbert Francis Joseph Constable-Maxwell-Scott (1891-1962)
Maxwell-Scott died at 7 Egerton Terrace in London in 1920, aged 67.[6] On her death in 1920 her eldest son, Walter, inherited Abbotsford House.[4]
Descendants
[edit]She was a grandmother of Patricia Maxwell-Scott (1921-1998) and Dame Jean Mary Monica Maxwell-Scott (1923-2004).
Publications include
[edit]- Catalogue of the Armour & Antiquities at Abbotsford (editor), Edinburgh, (1888)
- Abbotsford: The Personal Relics and Antiquarian Treasures of Sir Walter Scott (1893)
- The Tragedy of Fotheringay, A. & C. Black, London (1895)
- The Making of Abbotsford, and Incidents in Scottish History, Drawn from Various Sources (1897)
- Henry Schomberg Kerr: Sailor and Jesuit, Longmans & Co, London (1901)
- Alfred the Great, Catholic Truth Society, London (1902)
- Joan of Arc, Sands & Co, London & Edinburgh (1905)
- Gabriel Garcia Moreno (1908)
- Madame Elizabeth de France, 1764-1794, Edward Arnold, London (1908)
- The Life of Madame de la Rochejaquelein, Longmans & Co, London (1911)
- Thoughts on the Holy Angels. Selected by Hon. Mrs. Maxwell-Scott, Catholic Truth Society, London (1912)
- St. Francis de Sales and his Friends, Sands & Co, London & Edinburgh (1913)
- The Teresa of Canada, London (1915)
- Mary, Queen of Scots, Catholic Truth Society, London (1935).[7]
References
[edit]- ^ 1871 England Census for Mary Monica Hope Scott
- ^ Application for a Loan under the Public Money Drainage Acts - The Edinburgh Gazette 21 January 1868
- ^ Matthew Withey, Curator of Abbotsford: the Edinburgh Philosophical Institution Lecture - Saltire Society, Scotland
- ^ a b The Descendants of Sir Walter Scott: Mary Monica Maxwell-Scott - Abbotsford - the Home of Sir Walter Scott website
- ^ "Miscellaneous". The Illustrated London New. London, England: 438. 25 September 1897 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ Hon Mary Monica Maxwell Scott in the Scotland, National Probate Index (Calendar of Confirmations and Inventories), 1876-1936
- ^ Publications of Mary Monica Maxwell-Scott - British Library Catalogue
- 1852 births
- 1920 deaths
- People from Royal Tunbridge Wells
- People from Galashiels
- Writers from the Scottish Borders
- Walter Scott
- Scott family of Abbotsford
- 19th-century Scottish novelists
- 20th-century Scottish novelists
- 19th-century Scottish writers
- 19th-century Scottish women writers
- 20th-century Scottish women writers
- 20th-century Scottish people
- 19th-century Scottish women