Smith, Elizabeth ___ 1797-1885 ___ British ___ teacher

BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY
Elizabeth was born at Rothiemurchus in, Scotland, to the local laird, Sir Peter Grant, a lawyer and MP. However, he fell into debt and took his family first to France, and then to India where he managed to secure himself a position as a judge in Bombay. While in India, Elizabeth married the Irishman, Henry Smith. When he inherited a neglected estate, Baltiboys, in County Wicklow, they went to Ireland, to rebuild the house and develop the farms. Elizabeth also set up a school. Her diaries provide an interesting insight into mid-19th century Ireland and a historically useful commentary on the potato famine. Her great granddaughter, the dancer Ninette de Valois, spent part of her childhood at Baltiboys.
A biography link
Wikipedia bio
The Diary Review - A Highland diarist in Ireland

DIARY DATES, CONTENT DESCRIPTORS
1840-1850 ___ social domestic family farming Ireland

WEB TEXT LINKS
etext (memoir)
some extracts
a few pages

ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT LINKS
 

SOME PUBLISHED TITLES
The Irish Journals of Elizabeth Smith
The Highland Lady in Ireland, Journals 1840-50
Memoirs of a Highland Lady

May 2005, August 2008, April 2013
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IMPORTANT NOTES AND CAUTIONS: 1) The first line of basic information may be incomplete in several ways: some historical figures have different names (titles, pen-names); their birth and death dates may be unknown or uncertain (g - guess, c - circa); similarly, their occupations may be unknown, or they may have had other jobs; and, for early diarists, I've used 'British' a bit too freely. 2) The biographical summary may not be accurate. It was compiled quickly from various sources, mostly on the internet, and the facts were not checked anywhere near as rigorously as they would have been if they'd been intended for publication in a printed form. 3) The journal dates and descriptors (which are in no particular order) must be treated with caution: since I have not examined the diaries myself, the descriptors are only guesses based on bibliographies, anthologies and internet biographies. 4) For the biography and etext links, I have ignored any sites with charges, and I have avoided, wherever possible, those with pop-ups or too much advertising. I have limited myself to providing three etext links where there is some variety between them. 5) For the original manuscript links, I have limited myself to providing a maximum of two (although, for a few diarists, their original diaries are held in more than two places). 6) I have provided the titles - chosen randomly - for up to three printed editions of the diaries.