Anne Lindsay; music and art

Lady Anne was talented draughtswoman who spent many happy hours filling her sketchbooks with drawings of her children and friends, generally seated with slightly desperate expressions on their faces.

She also painted in watercolours, and has left some charming landscapes, some of them have been glued into her scrap books.

Through these images we catch a glimpse of family life in a prosperous household, where the children played games and the grown-ups played the piano and took part in parlour games. Ann also taught William how to play the flute.

The Victorians inherited a robust sense of humour from their forebears, and Lady Anne kept a great many of these witty tales and cartoons in her scrap books — as a handy reference for the next party, no doubt. The portrait on the right is of William.

We get a sense of many visitors and house guests, and of course Mrs Martin, the widow who came to live at Tillicoultry when her friend Anne got married. She was an honorary aunt, and both William and Robert made a point of writing to her when on their travels.

Anne’s scrap books contains contributions from others – the cartoon on the left is by William. Sir Walter Scott was a family friend, and he added a little story to her scrap album, in memory of a happy evening devoted to putting on a play that he had written for them.

Theirs was also a devout household.  Both Lady Anne and her husband were committed Christians and determined teetotallers. There wasn’t a drop of alcohol in the house. Clergymen were regular guests for Sunday lunch; they were often scientists and naturalists; Lady Anne was very interested in botany.   She also owned one of the first box cameras and took a photo of Tillicoultry House in January, in freezing weather, to send to her aunt, Lady Anne Barnard.