Violet Jacob was a Scottish

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 writer, now known especially for her historical novel Flemington and her poetry.

She was born Violet Augusta Mary Frederica Kennedy-Erskine, the daughter of William Henry Kennedy-Erskine (1 July 1828-15 September 1870) of Dun,Forfarshire

Dun, Angus

Dun is a rural parish in Angus, Scotland. It contains the House of Dun, home of the Erskine family and is a stop on the Caledonian Railway. It is located on the river South Esk, east of Montrose and west of Brechin. In 1785-7 a bridge was built there across the South Esk. The writer Violet Jacob...

, a Captain in the 17th Lancers

17th Lancers

The 17th Lancers was a cavalry regiment of the British Army, notable for its participation in the Charge of the Light Brigade in the Crimean War...

 and Catherine Jones (d. 13 February 1914), the only daughter of William Jones of Henllys

Henllys

Henllys could refer to a number of places in Wales.*Henllys, Carmarthenshire a hamlet on the west bank of the River Tywi in the parish of Cilycwm*Henllys, Ceredigion a township in the parish of Llanfihangel Genau'r Glyn or Llandre...

, Carmarthenshire

Carmarthenshire

Carmarthenshire is a unitary authority in the south west of Wales and one of thirteen historic counties. It is the 3rd largest in Wales. Its three largest towns are Llanelli, Carmarthen and Ammanford...

. Her father was the son of John Kennedy-Erskine (1802–1831) of Dun

House of Dun

House of Dun, together with the adjacent Montrose Basin nature reserve, is a National Trust for Scotland property in Angus, Scotland.The Dun Estate was home to the Erskine family from 1375 until 1980. John Erskine of Dun was a key figure in the Scottish Reformation. The current house was designed...

 and Augusta FitzClarence (1803–1865), the illegitimate daughter of King William IV

William IV of the United Kingdom

William IV was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death...

 and Dorothy Jordan. Her great grandfather was Archibald Kennedy, 1st Marquess of Ailsa

Archibald Kennedy, 1st Marquess of Ailsa

Archibald Kennedy, 1st Marquess of Ailsa KT, FRS , styled Lord Kennedy between 1792 and 1794 and known as The Earl of Cassilis between 1794 and 1831, was a Scottish peer.-Background:...

.

The area of Montrose

Montrose, Angus

Montrose is a coastal resort town and former royal burgh in Angus, Scotland. It is situated 38 miles north of Dundee between the mouths of the North and South Esk rivers...

 where her family seat of Dun

House of Dun

House of Dun, together with the adjacent Montrose Basin nature reserve, is a National Trust for Scotland property in Angus, Scotland.The Dun Estate was home to the Erskine family from 1375 until 1980. John Erskine of Dun was a key figure in the Scottish Reformation. The current house was designed...

 was situated was the setting for much of her fiction. She married, on 27 October 1894, Arthur Otway Jacob, an Irish Major

Major

Major is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...

 in the British Army

British Army

The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...

, and accompanied him to India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

 where he was serving. The couple had one son, Harry, born in 1895,who died as a soldier at the battle of the Somme in 1916. Arthur died in 1936, and Violet returned to live at Kirriemuir

Kirriemuir

Kirriemuir, sometimes called Kirrie, is a burgh in Angus, Scotland.-History:The history of Kirriemuir extends to the early historical period and it appears to have been a centre of some ecclesiastical importance...

, in Angus.

Violet Jacob is commemorated in Makars' Court, outside The Writers' Museum, Lawnmarket, Edinburgh. Selections for Makars' Court are made by The Writers' Museum; The Saltire Society; The Scottish Poetry Library.

Works

• The Sheepstealers (1902) novel
• The Interloper (1904) novel
• The Golden Heart (1904) novel
• Verses (1905)
• Irresolute Catherine (1908)
• The History of Aythan Waring (1908)
• The Fortune Hunters and Other Stories (1910)
• Flemington (1911)
• Songs of Angus (1915) poems
• More songs of Angus and others (1918) poems
• Bonnie Joan and other poems (1921)
• Tales of my own country (1922) short stories
• The Northern Lights and other poems (1927)
• The good child's year book (1927)
• Lairds of Dun (1931) history
• The Scottish poems of Violet Jacob (1944)
• The Lum hat and other stories: last tales of Violet Jacob (1982)
• Diaries and letters from India 1895-1900 (1990)

External links