Author: Hawkins, Susannah
Biography:
HAWKINS, Susannah (1787-1868: ODNB)
Her first name is also given as Susanna. She was the daughter of a blacksmith, John Hawkins, and his wife Christian Carruthers. She was born at Burnswark, near Ecclefechan, Dumfriesshire, but no record has been located. She was a herd and dairy maid whose poetry was published for free in pamphlets by the editor of the Dumfries Courier. She travelled throughout Scotland and into England selling her poems. The 1841 census shows her living at Hoddam, Dumfriesshire, with her brother and his family; her occupation is given as "poetess." She was later gifted a nearby cottage by Sir Frederick Johnstone of Wester Hall. Her last years were spent there before she died on 29 Mar. 1868 from a head injury sustained in a fall. She was buried in the churchyard at Ecclefechan; the memorial identifies her as a poetess. Following her Poetical Works, nine further volumes of poems were published (as Poems and Songs of Susanna Hawkins), with the last being issued in 1867. (ODNB 21 Feb. 2019; ancestry.co.uk 21 Feb. 2019, 15 Jan. 2025; WorldCat) SR