Author: Baillie, Joanna
Biography:
BAILLIE, Joanna (1762-1851: ODNB)
The youngest of three children, she was born at Bothwell, Lanarkshire, to the Rev. James Baillie and Dorothea (Hunter) Baillie. Educated at home until the age of ten, she was then sent to boarding school in Glasgow where she visited the theatre for the first time and began to write plays. Her father died in 1778, and in 1783 she moved with her mother and sister to London to be with her brother, Matthew, a physician. There her aunt, Anne Home Hunter (q.v.), encouraged her to compose poetry and Baillie also began seriously to write plays. Plays on the Passions (1798, 1802, and 1812), studies in psychological motivation and processes, met a mixed reception and some harsh criticism, including from Francis Jeffrey (q.v.). Although De Monfort was performed at Drury Lane by Sarah Siddons and John Philip Kemble in 1800, it was not a success. Subsequent plays proved difficult to place, but The Family Legend was produced in Edinburgh and The Beacon (1812), a musical drama, was well received. A German translation of A Series of Plays (Die Leidenschaften) appeared in 1806. Many of her songs and ballads were set to music. From 1802 until her death, she lived at Hampstead with her sister; besides developing close friendships with other notable authors including Anna Barbauld, Lucy Aikin, Walter Scott, and Samuel Rogers (qq.v.), she was a source of encouragement and practical advice to aspiring writers. She came to be warmly admired for both her character and her literary works. (Judith Bailey Slagle, Joanna Baillie: A Literary Life [2002]; RPW; ODNB 10 Feb 2018)
Other Names:
- Miss Baillie