Maclehose, Agnes (1758-1841)

Maclehose, Agnes

SOCIALITE, POET (SCOTLAND)

BORN 26 Apr 1758, Glasgow: Salt Market - DIED 23 Oct 1841, Edinburgh
GRAVE LOCATION Edinburgh: Canongate Churchyard, Royal Mile (Craig tomb)

Agnes Maclehose was the daughter of the surgeon Andew Craig. She was courted by the lawyer James Maclehose (d.1812). He wasn't allowed to enter the family home by her father, but when she was eighteen years old they married on 1 July 1776 in Glasgow. She had four children, but before the fourth was born in 1781 she left her husband because of his mental cruelty and returned to her father. Her husband left for Jamaica.

When the poet Robert Burns came to Edinburgh in 1787 she wanted to meet him. This happened on a tea party on 4 December given by Miss Erskine Nimmo. She invited Burns for tea at her home and he accepted. But after he injured his knee he was unable to visit her. He did visit her in a sedan chair on 5 Janurary 1788 and visited her five times more that month. They exchanged love letters but their affair didn't become physical. Instead Burns entered into an sexual relationship with her maid Jenny Clow after Agnes had sent her to him to deliver a letter. A son was born afterwards. In 1788 Burns married his old love Jean Armour.

In 1791 Agnes went to Jamaica in an attempt to reconcile with her husband. But she found that he was living with another woman and returned to Scotland in April 1791. She met Burns for the last time on 6 December 1791 in Edinburgh. He died in 1796. In 1810 she moved from Potterrow to Edinburgh where she lived at 14 Carlton Hill. There she was visited by Burns' son Captain James Glencairn Burns in 1825. She died in Edingburgh in 1841.

Images
The grave of Agnes Maclehose at Canongate Churchyard, Edinburgh. Picture by Androom (04 Nov 2019)	The grave of Agnes Maclehose at Canongate Churchyard, Edinburgh. Picture by Androom (04 Nov 2019)	The grave of Agnes Maclehose at Canongate Churchyard, Edinburgh. Picture by Androom (04 Nov 2019)