Jessie Saxby
Jessie Margaret Edmondston Saxby (30 June 1842 – 27 December 1940) was a writer and
Family
Born on 30 June 1842 at
By her own admission, Saxby received little formal education.[3]
Thomas Edmondston Saxby (1869-1952), also a physician who lived and worked at Halligarth, and an ornithologist, was their son.
Career
Saxby's career started in the 1860s when several of her tales and some poetry were printed. Lichens from the Old Rock, a poetry book, was published in 1868, the first of the 47 books she authored.[3] The subject matter of her books was varied, covering diverse topics such as romantic fiction, folklore but particularly boys adventure stories.[3] She also wrote around 100 articles that were printed in newspapers, journals and magazines like Life and Work and The Boy's Own Paper.[3]
→Jessie Saxby wrote an appreciation of the life of Dr Joseph Bell, who is known as the prototype for Sherlock Holmes, as well as for his distinguished medical career. Her book is titled "Joseph Bell...an appreciation by an old friend", and it was published by Oliphant, Anderson & Ferrier in 1913. At the end of the book, Jessie signs her name, Jessie M.E.Saxby, and it follows these words: "As he had lived, Joe Bell died, brave, self-forgetful, upheld by the Divine...I shall not see his like again." [See the book mentioned in this text for authentication]←
Bibliography
- Saxby, Jessie M.E. (1879). Geordie Roye, or, A waif from the Greyfriars Wynd. Glasgow: John S. Marr & Sons. .
- —— (1882). Breakers Ahead; or, Uncle Jack's stories of great shipwrecks of recent times: 1869 to 1880. London: Nelson & Sons. .
- —— (1882). Snow dreams, or, Funny fancies for little folks. Edinburgh: Johnstone, Hunter & Co. .
- Edmondston, Rev. Biot; Saxby, Jessie M.E. (1888). The Home of a Naturalist. London: Nisbet & Co. .
- Some of the articles in this book were previously published in magazines like Chamber's Journal and The Leisure Hour. The texts, alternately written by Jessie Saxby and her brother, are in part reminiscences of their life as children on Unst, and about their father and grandfather. According to a 1979 bibliographic survey the book is "one of the finest of the older works on Shetland."[6]
- Some of the articles in this book were previously published in magazines like
- Saxby, Jessie M.E. (1890). West-Nor'West. London: Nisbet & Co. .
- —— (1892). Viking-Boys. London: Nisbet & Co. .
- —— (1892). Birds of omen in Shetland (Inaugural address to the Viking club, London, October 13, 1892). London: Private Print. .
- With notes on the folk-lore of the Raven and the Owl, by William Alexander Clouston.
- —— (1932). Shetland traditional lore. Edinburgh: Grant & Murray. .
References
Notes
Citations
- ^ a b Ewan, Innes & Reynolds (2006), p. 313
- ^ "Baltasound, Halligarth House", Historic Scotland, archived from the original on 12 February 2018, retrieved 30 July 2015
- ^ a b c d e f g h
Smith, Brian (2004), "Saxby, Jessie Margaret Edmondston (1842–1940)", doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/55498 (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ a b
Allen, D. E. (2004), "Edmondston, Thomas (1825–1846)", doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/8495 (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ a b c
Woodward, B. B.; Wallis, Patrick (2004), "Saxby, Henry Linckmyer (1836–1873)", doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/24757 (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- S2CID 220353311. (here the spelling of the name is 'Edmonston')
Sources
- Ewan, Elizabeth; Innes, Sue; Reynolds, Siân (2006), The Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women: From the Earliest Times to 2004, Edinburgh University Press, archived from the original on 19 June 2020[ISBN missing]
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