Agnes Maclehose

Agnes Maclehose
Agnes Maclehose's memorial stone in Canongate Kirkyard by H S Gamley
Born	17 April 1759 Salt Market, Glasgow, Scotland
Died	22 October 1841 Edinburgh, Scotland
Occupation	Poet, socialite, and wife

Agnes Maclehose (26 April 1758 – 23 October 1841), or Agnes Craig, known to her friends as 'Nancy' and to Robert Burns followers as Clarinda, was a Scotswoman who had an unconsummated affair with Burns during 1787-88, on which he based the song, "Ae Fond Kiss" (1791). The pseudonyms of her 'Clarinda' to his 'Sylvander' were adopted by the pair for confidential correspondence purposes. Maclehose has been various styled, including 'McLehose' and 'MacLehose'.

Agnes was born in Glasgow, the third of four daughters of a prominent surgeon, Andrew Craig. Her mother was Christian Maclaurin or McLaurin (d. 1767), daughter of John Maclaurin, a minister of the Scottish church. Her sisters were Margaret (b. 27 January 1752), Lilias (b. 25 July 1754), and Mary (b. 11 May 1764). She was sent to a boarding-school in Edinburgh for six months to improve her handwriting and grammar when she was fifteen, by which time all her siblings but one, Margaret, were dead. Agnes was a sickly child, however from the age of five her health improved and she developed into an exceptionally good looking woman, being indeed the toast of Glasgow's Hodge Podge Club at the age of 15.

Several of her ancestors had been ministers, and she herself was somewhat pious, mainly due to her mother's influence. The John Miers silhouette of her shows that she had large eyes, was slim, and had an ample bosom. She had blonde hair. In an age when it was not seen as necessary, or desirable, that women should receive much education, she was an exception to this rule, having read widely and polished her conversational skills, which put her beyond the ordinary.

A young Glasgow lawyer, James Maclehose (c.1754–1812), courted her, however for some reason he was forbidden to enter the Craig family home by Agnes's father. James found ways of meeting with her, one of which was by making himself the only other occupant of a Glasgow to Edinburgh coach in which she was booked to travel for a ten-hour journey, by the simple expedient of purchasing all the other seats. In spite of the objections of her father and her first cousin William Craig (1745–1813), later Lord Craig, a Court of Session judge. Agnes married in Glasgow at the age of eighteen on 1 July 1776.

Agnes had four children in four years, one of whom, William (b. 1777) died in infancy. Shortly before the birth of the fourth, James (b. 21 April 1781) in December 1780, she formally left her husband because of his mental cruelty and depression, returning to her father in Glasgow's Saltmarket, whilst James ended up at first in a debtors' prison before emigrating to Jamaica in 1782, his wife having refused to accompany him after receiving a letter in which he wrote "For my part, I am willing to forget what is past, neither do I require an apology from you." James Maclehose took custody of their two sons, both under three at the time; he later took custody also of their youngest child, born a few months after the separation. They were later returned to her. One of her sons, Andrew, became a writer to the signet in Edinburgh and helped support her in her old age.