Abb Fab: The short, tragic life of Charlotte Hope-Scott

The women of Abbotsford were no different from women elsewhere in the past: life was precarious, maternal health was poor, and infant mortality high. This harsh reality affected women of every class and background, regardless of wealth. 

Charlotte Hope-Scott is no exception. The only surviving child of Scott’s daughter Sophia and John Gibson Lockhart, she inherited Abbotsford on the death of her brother, Walter Scott Lockhart, in 1853. He himself had inherited Abbotsford from his uncle Walter Scott, the second Baronet. He and his wife, Jane Jobson (our May Abb Fab subject), had no children. Aunt Jane, as we will see, was to play a big part in Charlotte’s life.

Charlotte lost her mother Sophia when she was only nine years old. After a secluded and lonely life with her father, the critic and biographer of Scott, John Gibson Lockhart, Charlotte married James Robert Hope, a grandson of the 2nd Earl of Hopetoun, in 1847. She is described as having “… great simplicity of character, and unbounded cheerfulness”. And was thought to be mature for her age. 

She and her husband rented Abbotsford from her brother after their marriage and when Charlotte inherited Abbotsford, James Hope adopted the name Hope-Scott.  

Their influence on Abbotsford was profound. Jame Hope-Scott injected much needed capital, building the Hope Scott Wing from1855-57, thereby doubling the size of the house and laying out the north terraces and the south court as we know it today. Abbotsford had developed into a popular tourist attraction and to ensure privacy for their family and guests, they diverted visitors through a ‘sunken passage’ to enter the house via the basement, an arrangement only reversed by the Abbotsford Trust in 2013. How much Charlotte had to do with the building work, we don’t know. We do know that she was a devoted mother and efficient, well organised housekeeper.   

After the sadness of a stillborn child in 1848, a daughter, Mary Monica, was born in 1852, a year after the couple had converted to Catholicism (a seminal step for later generations) and named after a favourite saint. This charming image of mother and daughter in Abbotsford’s library paints a picture of quiet domestic bliss. In 1857, the little family was joined by a son, another Walter, and less than a year later by a daughter, Margaret.  

But happiness for the family was short-lived. 1858 turned out to be their  ‘Annus Horribilis’. Throughout her pregnancy with Margaret, Charlotte’s health deteriorated. Margaret was born on 17 September and by the end of October, arrangements had been made for Charlotte to spend the winter on the Isle of Wight. But within days of arriving in Edinburgh, Charlotte Hope-Scott contracted an acute form of bronchitis and died on 26 October 1858 at the Clarendon Hotel on Princes Street.  She was only 30 years old. Her infant daughter Margaret died less than six weeks later, followed within the week by her little brother Walter. 

James Hope-Scott was left heartbroken, a widower with a motherless six-year-old daughter. Mary Monica, or Mamo as she was affectionately known, like her mother before her, was destined to carry the Scott legacy on her little shoulders. This tragic story is immortalised in the gold pendant on display in Abbotsford’s library this June.

It contains locks of Charlotte’s hair as well as that of her two children. We don’t know who this pendant belonged to. But it tells a powerful story. Also on display is a gold bracelet containing a miniature portrait of Charlotte.

The original of this portrait is still here at Abbotsford. This bracelet once belonged to Jane Jobson, Charlotte’s aunt. Why does her aunt have a bracelet with her miniature? We can only speculate. It was grand aunt Jane Scott who registered Margaret’s death. Had Jane been caring for the infant after her mother’s death? Had she been close to her motherless niece, and was that why she owned a bracelet with her portrait? These questions remain tantalisingly unanswered. But the two small pieces of jewellery on display in the Abbotsford Library this summer encapsulate a tale of loss, grief and female connections. They give us a small but powerful glimpse into the lives of the women of Abbotsford.

Next month, we will look at Mary Monica Maxwell-Scott.

Click here to read last month's Abb Fab post, where we learn about Jane Jobson