Anne Dick
| Anne Dick | |
|---|---|
| Died | 1741 |
| Residence | Prestonfield House |
| Nationality | Scottish |
| Known for | eccentric behaviour and verses |
Lady Anne Dick or Anne Cunyngham or Anne Mackenzie (died 1741) was a Scottish noblewoman, poet and eccentric.
Life
Anne Mackenzie's grandfather was George Mackenzie, 1st Earl of Cromartie and her father was a Scottish Law Lord, Lord Royston. One of the first things known about her was that she married William Cunyngham who came to notice when his mother's grandfather died in 1728 and he and his wife took the surname Dick. They were then styled Sir William Dick and Lady Anne Dick.[1] Their title had been created for Sir John Dick Bt (1719-1804) who was the English consul at Leghorn.[2]
Lady Anne had two reasons for notoriety, the first was that she and her maid were transvestites who appeared in public in Edinburgh. Her peers and friends were said to be embarrassed when she published lampoons and verses of a "coarse" nature. Three were published in a Book of Ballads in 1823.[3]
Dich died childless in 1741 and her husband followed in 1746. The title was taken by her brother-in-law, the physician Sir Alexander Dick[1] who went to live at the family seat, Prestonfield House in Edinburgh.
References
- 1 2 Jennett Humphreys, ‘Dick , Anne, Lady Dick (d. 1741)’, rev. David Turner, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 21 Dec 2014
- ↑ Grant, Robert. Old and New Edinburgh Vol V. p. 114. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
- ↑ C. Kirkpatrick Sharpe's, Book of Ballads, 1823