Abb Fab: Mary Monica Maxwell Scott - The other half of the story

We are now halfway through the year, and halfway through our series about the (often) forgotten Women of Abbotsford. With Mary Monica (1852-1920), Scott’s great-granddaughter, we come to the women who never knew Walter Scott, yet were influential in shaping his legacy, perhaps none more so than Mary Monica, or Mamo as she was known to her family.

Mary Monica actively shaped her own life and left a legacy of her own. In fact, she proved a formidable force among Scott’s descendants.

For almost twenty years, after the death of her mother Charlotte and her siblings, Mary Monica was Scott’s only surviving descendant. For almost twenty years, she carried that legacy on her little shoulders.

When she was nine, her father remarried to Lady Victoria Fitzalan Howard, the eldest daughter of the Duke of Norfolk, and they had three more children. Mary Monica and her half-siblings were largely brought up at Abbotsford, with sojourns in the south of France, London and the far north of Scotland, until the death of their father in 1873, when Mamo officially inherited the house and estate. Her father, James Hope-Scott, had prepared her well for the responsibility this would bring. And Mary Monica rose to the occasion. 

In 1874, she married Joseph Constable Maxwell and, like her parents, the couple added the surname Scott to become the Maxwell-Scotts. She secured the family line by having eight children, who in turn produced enough offspring to continue the Maxwell-Scott lineage for generations to come. But her life was not without heartache where her children were concerned. A little girl, Winifred, lived only for two years. Two daughters, Daisy and Elsie, died in their early twenties and a son, Michael, at 31.

It was not only through her large family, however, that Mary Monica preserved Scott’s legacy.  

A writer and scholar in her own right, Mary Monica catalogued Scott’s collection and chronicled the stories surrounding his prized artefacts. The Making of Abbotsford, and Incidents in Scottish History, Drawn From Various Sources (1897) and Abbotsford: The Personal Relics and Antiquarian Treasures of Sir Walter Scott (1893) are invaluable for us today, helping us to understand Scott’s unique collection of artefacts. Furthermore, Personal Relics is an exquisite publication illustrated with the most charming watercolours by William Gibb and a joy to behold.

She also wrote historical novels and biographies, focusing on (often female and almost invariably Catholic) protagonists of history such as Mary Queen of Scots and Joan of Arc. She rescued from historical obscurity figures such as Elisabeth of Orleans, the sister of Louis VIX, who refused to leave her family and followed her brother and sister-in-law, Marie Antoinette to the guillotine. She undertook original research and explored manuscripts hidden away in family archives and libraries.  

Just like her great-grandfather, she was a prodigious letter writer and corresponded with many prominent Victorians across the globe. We hold a fascinating collection of her letters in our archives. Cardinal (now Saint) John Henry Newman was a close family friend. The daughter of the Emperor of Mexico sent her news from Mexico City (the Maxwell-Scotts spent two months there in 1886) and hopes to see her again soon. She arranged a visit by Ruskin to Abbotsford so that he “can make our modern youths more aware of him (Sir Walter)” - his quote, not hers. Much remains unexplored in our archives.    

Mary Monica, named after her father’s favourite saint, was brought up a devout Catholic. Through her father’s second marriage, the family became linked with the Duke of Norfolk, the Vatican’s most senior lay representative in England. Her strong faith highly colours her writings. This may be the reason she has never received much recognition. It is certainly considered unfashionable today, but during her lifetime, it was actively discriminated against. The resurgence of Catholicism from the 1850s onwards provoked deep-seated anti-Catholic sentiment in Britain. Large swathes of readers would have rejected Mary Monica’s writings. 

 Maybe she herself could now be rescued from historical obscurity. Calling all researchers and scholars out there – there is work to be done here. 

Want to learn more about Mary Monica? Stay tuned...

Next month, we will look at Mairi Maxwell Scott (formerly Mairi Richmond Macdougall).

Click here to read last month's Abb Fab post, where we learn about the short and tragic life of Charlotte Hope-Scott