Margaret Oliphant

Born 1828. Died 1897.
Research by Evelyn Muir

Who is Margaret Oliphant?

Being a firm believer of photographing things that I call beautiful, I started my research by taking a long look at the magnificent St Giles Cathedral. Each time I visit St Giles I seem to find something new. As part of the „Dead Interesting Women‟ class I had visited (once again) to see how many plaques there were in St Giles to women of distinction. It's a few years ago now that I first noticed Margaret Oliphant's commemoration plaque in St Giles. To me it seemed to glow. So on this visit I took a photograph of the plaque. I was intrigued by the name Oliphant. This is also Lady Nairne's maiden name so I set off to Central Library to see if I could find any information about Margaret Oliphant and Lady Nairne. No, there is no family connection, but what has unfolded is a remarkable story of the actual life of Margaret Oliphant, née Margaret Oliphant Wilson, who grew up not far from Edinburgh.

Margaret Oliphant was born in Wallyford, East Lothian on the 4th April 1828. Her first novel “Passages in the Life of Margaret Maitland” was published when she was just 21 years old. Margaret married her cousin, Frank Wilson Oliphant, in May 1852 but her personal life was filled with tragedy. Three of their children died in infancy. Frank died not long afterwards leaving Margaret to financially support the rest of the family. She was able to do this through her literary work but sadly Margaret and Frank's remaining children also died young. Margaret continued to write throughout her life and is author of more than a 100 novels and historical works and many articles. She died in London in 1897.

 

 

 

References:
St Giles Cathedral
Central Library, Edinburgh
Wikipedia