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Jean Elliot

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Nationality
  
Scottish

Name
  
Jean Elliot


Born
  
April 1727 (
1727-04
)
Scotland

Died
  
March 29, 1805, Monteviot House

Parents
  
Sir Gilbert Elliot, 2nd Baronet, of Minto

Notable works
  
Flowers of the Forest

Jean elliot senior mauvaise herbe


Jean Elliot (April 1727 – 29 March 1805), also known as Jane Elliot, was a Scottish poet. She wrote one of the most famous versions of The Flowers of the Forest, a song lamenting the Scottish army's defeat in the Battle of Flodden. Published in 1776, it is her only surviving work. The lyrics are set to a tune later collected into a melody by John Skene.

Contents

Jean elliot senior south reprise nino ferrer


Biography

Daughter of Sir Gilbert Elliot, Jean was born in 1727 at Minto House in Teviotdale.

During the Jacobite rising of 1745, when a party of Jacobites came to arrest her influential father, Jean received and entertained the unwelcomed officers at Minto House with such calmness, courtesy and composure that she was able to convince them that her father was not within reach when he was actually hiding himself among Minto crags, not far from the Minto House.

While Miss Elliot had many admirers, she never married. From 1782 to 1804 she resided in Brown's Square, Edinburgh. She is said to have been the last lady in the city who kept standing in her hall a private sedan chair.

Towards the end of her life, Jean went back to Teviotdale. She died either at Minto House, or Mount Teviot, the residence of her younger brother Admiral John Elliot, on 29 March 1805.

References

Jean Elliot Wikipedia