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

She was born in Tunbridge Wells in Kent 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 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. On the death of her father in 1873 she inherited Abbotsford House, the home of Walter Scott.

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.

Personal life Portrait of The Hon. Mrs Mary Maxwell-Scott by William Edwards Miller, 1874 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. 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. On her death in 1920 her eldest son, Walter, inherited Abbotsford House.