Anne MacVicar Grant letter (RLC.Ms.517)

Biographical note

Anne MacVicar Grant (1755-1838), poet, was born on February 21, 1755, in Glasgow, Scotland, and spent her early life in America, while her father, a British army officer, was stationed in New York and Vermont. While in America, Anne she taught herself to read and write poetry. In 1768, her family returned to Scotland. She married Reverend James Grant in 1779 and together they had twelve children. After her husband’s death in 1801, Grant turned to writing for financial support and published by subscription a collection of poems in 1803. From 1810 through the end of her life, she lived in Edinburgh, Scotland, where her memoirs on her early life in America and poems about the Scottish Highland made her a popular literary figure. Anne MacVicar Grant died on November 7, 1838.