The 13th of December (a poem)
by Anna Jane Douglas Maclean Clephane, included in her book of Plays and Poems (1864):
THE 13TH OF DECEMBER
A day thou wert of gladness
In times of yore;
Thou art a day of sadness
For evermore.
Sad thoughts must aye encumber
Her day of birth,
Who locked in mortal slumber
Hath passed from earth.
Yet thoughts of her as treasure
Our bosoms store;
A well of painful pleasure
For evermore;
Roots with our heart strings twining
Unwrenchable;
Light on our deep souls shining
Unquenchable.
As by a mirror doubled,
In each heart’s core
Her image dwells untroubled
For evermore.
Of joys the purest, lightest,
Deep griefs are made;
The sun when he shines brightest
Casts darkest shade.
Thus we in deep heart-sorrow
Her loss deplore;
Joy from her smile to borrow—
No nevermore.
Not so, there will be meeting
For us again,
Where joy’s unmeasured greeting
Includes no pain.
When each enfranchised spirit
God’s throne before,
Shall life and love inherit
For evermore.
Anna Jane writes, of course, about her sister Margaret, the 2nd Marchioness of Northampton (born Margaret Douglas Maclean Clephane; usually known in this blog as Lady Compton). Margaret died of an aneurysm in April 1830, while abroad in Italy.
I, too, face the birthday of a deceased loved one every December – and find the lines of this poem both sad and comforting. Made more poignant by today being the 13th of December (2020) once again, with its grey skies and one beam of sun breaking through the clouds at an opportune moment of grief and reflection.
Meet Miss Anna Jane Clephane
Anna Jane Douglas Maclean Clephane was born on 21 May 1793. The announcement of her birth reads, “21. at Kirkness, Mrs Douglas Maclean Clephane of Carslogie, of a daughter.”
Anna Jane died at the home of her nephew the 3rd Marquess of Northampton, at Castle Ashby, 27 January 1860; her burial service was conducted by another nephew, Lord Alwyne Compton, rector of Castle Ashby, on February 1st.
Her birth is often confused with that listed as “1798. 11 [November]. Mrs D. Maclean Clephane of Carslogie, a daughter.” This may be an announcement for a sister (Helen Amelia) who died in April 1803, but I have yet to confirm this.
Mrs. Clephane had three daughters grow to adulthood:
The eldest sister’s birth is found alongside her future sister-in-law in December 1791. Margaret Clephane on the 13th and Lady Elizabeth Compton on the 20th December. Margaret died in Italy, in April 1830. She is buried at Castle Ashby.
The youngest Clephane sister, Wilmina, was born 26 December 1803 (her father, Maj. Gen. William Douglas Maclean Clephane, died in November 1803). She died 9 February 1869. She is found in records under her married name, de Normann. (She had married Wilhelm, Baron de Normann in 1831.) A little portrait of Wilmina was among many at auction (Christie’s) back in October 2005.
I have yet to find a portrait of Anna Jane. I have had access to a number of her (early) letters, written around the time she was “meeting” Lady Elizabeth Compton via the post. A LOT of Anna Jane “sightings” happen once the Smiths meet her in person, in the late 1810s, when she comes to visit Lord and Lady Compton in London.
I have not – so far – come across Anna Jane’s correspondence with (especially) Augusta Smith, Emma’s eldest sister. It is discussed at length in letters to Lady Elizabeth — including that Anna Jane sent Augusta, following strict instructions, an outline so that Augusta could create a silhouette. Of course, nothing was included with the letter that mentioned this tidbit of information, and I’ve not come across it in Lady Elizabeth’s group of “heads” (which also does not include Lady Elizabeth herself).
Augusta Smith (later: Wilder) was well-known for her artistic ability, and kept at least one “book of heads”, though I believe silhouettes in various collections to have been done (at least in part) by Augusta. I chuckle whenever I recall one transcript of a letter, which referred to Augusta’s “book of beads“. Surely a misread.
Wilmina, born at the end of 1803, was still quite young when her sister Margaret married Spencer, Lord Compton (Lady Elizabeth’s brother; cousin to Emma Smith et al.) in the summer of 1815. Anna Jane, on the other hand, was already a young woman. When her new relations wrote their London news, she was resident in Scotland; Margaret had gotten married in Edinburgh. Of course ONE hope was that visitors would come to them, at Torloisk (if not Edinburgh).
Mrs. Clephane was most adamant that she would leave Margaret to settle in with her new family. The Clephanes traveled into England, but only to stay at Harrogate. The ladies, of course, stayed in touch with lots of letters.
The sisters’ girlhood home, Torloisk, on the Isle of Mull, passed from Margaret to her next-to-eldest son. Mrs. Clephane (who died in August 1843) gets some mentions in the diaries of James Robertson (listed, among online diaries I have found, on my blog Georgian Gems, Regency Reads & Victorian Voices). Remaining unmarried, Anna Jane spent much of her life with Margaret’s children, sharing Compton’s – by then the 2nd Marquess of Northampton – Northamptonshire home. I’ve done little beyond collecting and transcribing letters from the later years; I lose sight of Anna Jane.
One superb source for a little about Anna Jane Douglas Mclean Clephane, as a person, is James Robertson’s Journal. In his 15 December 1843 entry, he notes the “better read and better educated” Mrs. Milman (and others), who does not hold a candle to Miss Clephane, “who is an exception to all rule.” If only he had painted a picture of her looks as he so adeptly did for two of her nephews (and dear sweet Miss Macdougall, too).
News! News! News!
Two *new* portraits join my little gallery… They were found while looking for something totally different (isn’t that always the case?!).
My first was this delightful portrait of Wilmina Maclean Clephane:
I was looking to update information on my current writing project, about Fanny( Smith) Seymour, and wanted to double check information about Torloisk (on the Isle of Mull, Scotland). This was the home of the three Maclean Clephane sisters. Don’t remember them?? I can’t blame you — there are so many names and people to remember, aren’t there?
The Clephane sisters were wards of writer Walter Scott; Margaret Douglas Maclean Clephane married Spencer, Lord Compton in 1815 — and Emma recorded the events of Margaret’s homecoming (see my article at the JASNA website equating this event to a proposed welcome for Elizabeth Bennet Darcy). Spencer and his sister Lady Elizabeth Compton were the only cousins the Smiths of Suttons had. Emma came to know the Clephane girls — the other two being Anna-Jane and Wilmina — fairly well, and even wrote of meeting Walter Scott himself!
**Read about the Clephanes’ connection to early music for the Gaelic Harp**
How wonderful to read Walter Scott’s (online) journal and see this; it’s September, 1827:
“September 6. — Went with Lady Compton to Glasgow, and had as pleasant a journey as the kindness, wit, and accomplishment of my companion could make it. Lady C. gives an admirable account of Rome, and the various strange characters she has met in foreign parts. I was much taken with some stories out of a romance… I am to get a sight of the book if it be possible. At Glasgow (Buck’s Head) we met Mrs. Maclean Clephane and her two daughters, and there was much joy. After the dinner the ladies sung, particularly Anna Jane, who has more taste and talent of every kind than half the people going with great reputations on their back.” Read more ….
Margaret was the eldest (born 1791), Wilmina the youngest (born 1803); they and Compton are extremely prevalent in the Scott correspondence. Such fun to read of Margaret, when a young bride newly brought home to Castle Ashby, entertaining her guests with Scottish Song and Music, such as Emma recorded witnessing. Margaret was a dab hand at art as well, which brings me back to Harriet Cheney.
The Cheney name is one VERY familiar from letters and diaries. And, besides, the Cheney family were related to the Carrs/Carr Ellisons and they end up in Mary Gosling’s extended family! Again: a small world.
Harriet Cheney, whose Italian sketchbooks went up for auction in 2005 at Christie’s, not only sketched places, but also those whom she came across. Wilmina was one; her sister Margaret and her family was another:
Here, Margaret is depicted with her daughter Marianne Compton (the future Lady Alford). Other images not “illustrated” at Christie’s includes other children and also Spencer Lord Compton! Such treasures.
**Read Karen E. McAulay‘s PhD thesis Our Ancient National Airs: Scottish Song Collecting, c1760-1888**
Look at all 110 lots (Wilmina is Lot 44; Margaret and Marianne are Lot 45) at Christie’s. There is even a specimen of the artistry of Wilmina herself at Lot 87.
I swear that Emma called Wilmina’s husband Baron de Normann (Christie’s cites de Norman). Was it Emma’s spelling, or how he spelled his name ?? Always tricky to tell during this time period, when spelling was somewhat fluid — even for names! Christie’s seems to have obtained the name from the signature on the art itself, but who knows…
Two Teens in the Time of Austen 