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Author: Carmichael, Rebekah

Biography:

CARMICHAEL, Rebekah later Hay (1766?-1823: ancestry.co.uk)

On the certificate of her 1793 marriage at Edinburgh to John Hay, an Edinburgh clerk, her father’s name is given as James Carmichael. This makes it likely that she was born at London to James and Sarah Carmichael and baptised at St. Martin-in-the-Fields on 24 May 1766. Why she moved to Scotland is not known. Her Poems is dedicated to David Steuart-Moncrieffe and the subscription list (with copies to Robert Burns who in 1787 had sent her his copy of Robert Fergusson's [q.v.] poems) suggests that she had extensive Scottish connections. One subscriber is Dr Carmichael Smyth of London, a physician to George III. She and John Hay had four children. She was severely impoverished by his early death (1806), and a letter, attached to her poem "Extempore, on Seeing Sir William Forbes Funeral," to Archibald Constable begs for a loan and expresses hope that her situation will soon improve. Forbes was an eminent banker and one of her sons, David Ramsay Hay, was named after another banker, David Ramsay. The son later became a well-regarded painter and writer. She died as the result of an unspecified accident and was buried at the Canongate, Edinburgh. (ECWP; ancestry.co.uk 31 Aug 2018; ODNB [David Ramsay Hay] 31 Aug 2018)

 

Books written (1):

Edinburgh: for the author by Peter Hill, 1790