Scottish Authors > Elizabeth Grant Diarist 1797-1886

Elizabeth Grant (1797-1886) of Rothiemurchus is so called to distinguish her from two namesakes: Elizabeth Grant of Carron (1745-1814) the songwriter, and Anne Grant of Laggan (1755-1838), who, like Elizabeth, also wrote about her experiences on Speyside. That the confusion should exist is understandable, but one suspects that the distinction between them might be better known. At least she is not known as Mrs Smith, although she married an Irish soldier of that name, and ended her days managing their estate in Ireland. Her father was an Edinburgh lawyer who inherited Rothiemurchus where Elizabeth, one of two brother and three sisters, spent much time. He experienced considerable professional and financial difficulties until he became a successful judge in India. There Elizabeth met her husband, Colonel John Hay Smith.

Of several possible Grants, the Oxford companion to English literature chooses to mention only James Grant, the mid-century follower in Scott's footsteps. Elizabeth Grant was as interesting a writer as he was, and her work has lasted longer. She contributed stories and articles to journals just to earn money during her father's lifetime, but her fame rests almost entirely on her journal, written after 1845, and substantially edited and first published by her daughter in 1898.

What is appealing about Elizabeth Grant's Memoirs is that she describes early nineteenth century country life in the Highlands in the same intimate matter-of-fact way and with the same gently wit as Jane Austen. Like Dorothy Wordsworth she was not writing for publication and this gives her work a refreshing honesty. One might suppose that life in the Highlands would be, in some way, more difficult and thus less sophisticated than life in the Home Counties, and so, perhaps, it was, but her account of it is of the same social, domestic and commercial concerns. Immortal characters, like Rob Roy and Neil Gow, and notable bits of scenery, like the Falls of Bruar, are introduced, not as set pieces, but as settings for everyday life.

The following extract illustrates her skills. She describes the perils of log bridges, but adds a telling anecdote about an elderly lady coming in the opposite direction:

We were generally accompanied by an immense Newfoundland dog called Neptune, an especial favourite; he happened to be marching in front and proceeded to cross the log; on he stepped, so did the old woman, gravely moved the dog, and quietly came on the old woman, till they met in the middle. To pass was impossible, to turn back on the narrow footway equally so; there they stood, the old woman in considerable uncertainty. The dog made up his mind more quickly, he very quietly pushed her out of the way; down she fell into the stream, and on he passed as if nothing extraordinary had happened. She was a good old creature, just as much amused as we were, and laughed as heartily, and she spread the fame of Neptune far and near ...

Elizabeth Grant died at Balliboys in Ireland. Her Scottish and Irish journals are available in admirable editions published by Canongate.

Louis Stott

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