Learn more about Alison Rutherford

Alison Rutherford, Lady Cockburn, (1714-94) was an Enlightenment songstress and poet. She was a leading light in Edinburgh literary circles.

Alison was the daughter of Mr Rutherford of Fernilee, Selkirkshire. She married Patrick Cockburn, a younger son of Adam Cockburn of Ormiston, the Lord Justice-Clerk of Scotland. When they were first married she lived in her father-in-law’s house. He was a strict Presbyterian who strongly disapproved of dancing, the theatre and playing cards.

A society hostess and poet

When her father-in-law died, Alison and her husband set up house in Edinburgh. She made up for lost time by attending countless dances, balls and theatre performances and became an adept card player.

'She maintained the rank in the society of Edinburgh which Frenchwomen of talents usually do in that of Paris.’

Sir Walter Scott

During the Jacobite rising of 1745, when Edinburgh Castle was under siege, Lady Cockburn was intercepted in a carriage carrying a song she had written parodying Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Jacobites. Luckily she was allowed to go with a warning but was ‘not a little alarmed’.

Lady Cockburn’s talents for conversation were legendary. She was very fond of parody and delighted in parties and dances.

'On Wednesday I gave a ball!... Our fiddlers sat where the cupboard is, and they danced in both rooms; the table was stuffed into the window, and we had plenty of room... nine couples always dancing. I made the bairns vastly happy.’

‘At the Archers’ Ball all merry, and men, maidens and matrons danced. I love to hear of it. It is like the days of my youth and health.’

Alison, Lady Cockburn

She was friend of David Hume and saw the young Walter Scott’s potential. She wrote a great many songs but is most remembered for her version of the the traditional Scottish ballad 'The Flowres of the Forest', to which she was inspired by the bankruptcy of a number of gentlemen in her native Selkirkshire.

An unconventional life

Lady Cockburn was very proud of her long auburn hair. She refused to wear the customary black bonnet of a widow when her husband died. Walter Scott noted that her hair ‘remained unbleached by time, even when she was upwards of eighty years old.’

She was an independent and unconventional woman. She refused to be told what to do or how to act throughout her life.

‘In a long life I have been blest with many friends – I believe I have not one enemy for which I bless God – my heart is grateful to my God and my friends.’

Alison, Lady Cockburn