Today @TheFriendMag marks its republication of Scottish author Annie S. Swan’s novel ‘The Inheritance’, 130 years after its first publication. Who was Annie S. Swan? How is she remembered in Scottish history and literature? Find out more here... (portrait @NatGalleriesSco)

Swan was born at Gorebridge (photograph @Scranlife) one of seven children of Euphemia and Edward Swan. She was educated at Queen Street Ladies’ College (now Mary Erskine School @esmsedinburgh). She began writing in the Christian Leader and the People’s Journal in the 1870s.

She found fame in the People’s Friend ( @TheFriendMag) which serialised her novel ‘Wrongs Righted’ in 1881. Swan was an exclusive writer for the People’s Friend and contributed at least one novel to the magazine per year from 1881 until her death in 1943 (portrait @NPGLondon).

In 1883 she married James Burnett Smith and, through the money accrued from her novels, funded his medical degree at @EdinburghUni. In the same year her novel ‘Aldersyde’ was published and received largely favourable reviews, notably by PM William Gladstone in @TheScotsman.

In 1894 William Robertson Nicoll established the magazine ‘Woman At Home’ (known as ‘Annie S. Swan’s Magazine’), with Swan as chief contributor-editor between 1894 and 1917. Swan also contributed to Nicoll’s ‘British Weekly’ and was friends with J. M. Barrie and S. R. Crockett.

During the First World War Swan travelled to the United States and to Belgium, to raise support for America’s entry in the war, and to raise funds for Belgian refugees. She also visited the Western Front. The following soldier’s letter mentions Swan’s visit in 1915: ( @TheWFA)

Swan was a prominent public figure who supported temperance and women’s suffrage. She was a supporter of the Liberal party and wrote for the Dundee ‘Liberal News’. In the 1922 general election she stood as the Liberal candidate for Maryhill (Glasgow).

Her involvement in politics did not end in the 1920s. Swan became an advocate of Scottish Home Rule and frequently contributed to the ‘Scots Independent’ newspaper. She became the first vice president of the @theSNP following its formation in 1934 (portrait @NPGLondon).

Swan was made CBE in 1930 and was honoured by @ScottishPEN in 1935. Her autobiography was published in 1934 and her correspondence posthumously published in 1945. She died at her home in Gullane in 1943, aged 80.

Swan’s novels and some of her correspondence, personal papers and literary belongings are held at @nlsarchives @natlibscot — https://digital.nls.uk/catalogues/guide-to-manuscript-collections/inventories/acc6469.pdf

Swan has been the subject of interesting analyses and critical responses, such as @peedieg’s essay for @IASH_Edinburgh @DangerousWomen_ (2016) http://dangerouswomenproject.org/2016/09/08/annie-shepherd-swan/

Juliet Shields’ article for @VPReditors @RS4VP (2019) recently illuminated the tension between Swan’s domestic life and public life — https://muse.jhu.edu/article/735366 

Her website is a fantastic biographical resource for Swan and her contemporaries in Scotland — https://www.scottishwomenwritersontheweb.net/novelists#/annie-shepherd-swan-1

@samlwalton’s chapter firmly places Swan as a Kailyard author and her novels as those which upheld Christian values, rural locations and domestic sentiment found in the works of J. M. Barrie et al — http://researchspace.bathspa.ac.uk/6115/ 

@dramyburge gives an excellent overall assessment of Swan’s literary legacy and includes further reading on Swan in a Kailyard context — https://thirtyfifthcenturyromance.blogspot.com/2017/03/cabbage-patch-kids-contemporary-romance.html?m=1

@gorebridgetrust has also explored Swan’s Gorebridge roots and her life from the perspective of the town — https://gorebridge.org.uk/heritage/the-great-war-annie-s-swan-and-family/

@gillianneale1 presented a richly researched paper at @bavs2019 conference on Swan and her impact on popular culture. She highlighted how densely Swan’s novels saturated the British book market.

Finally, my own research explores Swan in the context of @TheFriendMag and other female authors, poets and essayists who contributed regularly to popular Scottish magazines between 1870 and 1920.