Author: Wedderburn, Margaretta
Biography:
WEDDERBURN, Margaretta (b c.1779: RLF)
Details about her life are known only from her book and her 1828-29 application to the Royal Literary Fund. It is likely that both her parents were from Scotland but she was born in England. When she was six, her mother died and she was sent to be brought up by an aunt in Dalkeith, Midlothian. Her father remained in England and remarried but by 1810 his second wife had died and he was elderly and ill. The aunt in Dalkeith died when Wedderburn was in her teens and she moved to Edinburgh where, in 1805, she was very ill and was treated by Dr. Andrew Duncan (see ODNB). In 1810 she returned to England—likely to London—to care for her father. The BL copy of her Mary Queen of Scots...with other Miscellaneous Pieces has an inscription by her dated from Pimlico in 1813. She subsequently became a trader at the Soho Bazaar but was unable to carry on because of injury; she had fractured her arm and shoulder. Her first letter to the RLF is dated from Nov. 1828 and signed by the elders and deacons of a church on Wells Street; this was likely the Scotch Church of Wells Street, Marylebone. Wedderburn was then living at 3 York Place, Ossulton Street, Somers Town, London. The RLF initially awarded her £10 and paid a further £5 on her second application in Oct. 1829. The RLF application gives her age as 49 in 1828, making it likely she was born in about 1779. The file identifies her as “Mrs.” but this is a courtesy title; there is no evidence that she was married. Her book was published by subscription but there is no list; it is dedicated to the Duchess of Buccleuch and the poems were written in 1807-10. No information about her death has been found. (RLF file 641; RPW) SR