Alicia Ann Spottiswoode


Alicia Ann, Lady John Scott, was a Scottish songwriter and composer known chiefly for the tune, "Annie Laurie", to which the words of a 17th-century poet, William Douglas, were set.

Life

She was the oldest daughter of John Spottiswoode of Berwickshire and his wife Helen Wauchope of Niddrie-Mains. On 16 March 1836 she married Lord John Douglas Scott, a younger son of the 4th Duke of Buccleuch, and consequently was known as Lady John Scott. Lord John Scott died in 1860. Under the will of her father, she resumed her maiden name Spottiswoode in 1866, and was sometimes known as Lady John Scott Spottiswoode.
Lady John Scott was a champion of traditional Scots language, history and culture, her motto being 'Haud fast by the past'.
"Annie Laurie" was published in 1838. Scott was born and died at Spottiswoode, Scottish Borders, in the former Berwickshire.
She died at Spottiswoode, Lauder, Berwickshire on 12 March 1900.

Works

Selected works include: