What do you think?
Journal of a Lady of Quality
Alexander and Janet Schaw, Scottish siblings, began a journey in 1774 that would take them from Edinburgh to the Caribbean Islands and then to America. Part of the early wave of Scottish colonization, the pair visited family and friends who had already established themselves in the colonies. Journal of a Lady of Quality is Janet Schaw’s account of this voyage through letters to a friend in Scotland. The letters describe the sights, scenery, and social life she encountered, but they also reveal the political atmosphere of an America on the verge of revolution. Stephen Carl Arch provides a new introduction for this Bison Books edition.
342 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1776
About the author
Janet Schaw
1 bookJanet Schaw, traveller and diarist, was born between 1730 and 1740 in Lauriston, Edinburgh. The third cousin, once removed of Sir Walter Scott, she was born into an old Scottish family. Little is known about her early life, but during her travels to the West Indies, North America, and Portugal in 1774-1776, she kept a journal, "blessedly unaware that as she jotted down her opinions and descriptions that she was a writing for posterity a document of rare interest and importance, now which as far as we know, and especially as it bears on the Scottish phase of American colonial history, is unique." After her return to Britain she lived in Edinburgh and Plymouth, where she met King George III and Queen Charlotte. Janet died in 1800.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
August 12, 2025
This book comprises a series of letters sent by the author to an unnamed friend between October 1774 and December 1775, when the author travelled from Scotland to the Caribbean, North Carolina, and then to Portugal before returning home. At no point does the journal mention the author’s name, but she has been identified with certainty as Janet Schaw of Lauriston, Edinburgh. She was accompanying her brother Alexander, who had been appointed as “searcher of customs” for the island of St. Kitts, and the siblings also planned to visit an older brother, Robert, who lived in the Cape Fear district of North Carolina but whom they didn’t know personally. Robert was older than Janet and Alexander, and it seems he was sent to an apprenticeship in Carolina at the age of ten, so they do not remember him. (There were apparently 3 other siblings, but they are not mentioned in this account).
Janet is an entertaining correspondent. The Introduction describes her as “vivacious” and she does come over as someone very much at home at balls, parties, and other social settings. She values the social conventions of the era and has a liking for men who pay her compliments and who behave with “gallantry.” At the same time she is sometimes willing to poke fun at herself. On the other hand, she displays the unvarnished racial attitudes of a European of the 1770s. You have been warned!
The book falls into four parts, beginning with the initial transatlantic journey, which made landfall in Antigua. They subsequently made a separate journey to St. Kitts. Janet may have been privileged by the standards of the day, but her journey from Scotland to Antigua was made in conditions we would consider almost unbearable. The ship was dangerously overloaded, and they were caught in a 12-day storm during which it must have come very close to sinking. Janet tells of how her own cabin was flooded with seawater almost to the level of her bunk. After a day or two at sea, she also found that the ship was carrying a party of emigrants from Orkney, who had been smuggled aboard. Although initially repelled by their dirty and lice-ridden condition, after a few days she regards them with considerable sympathy.
Janet’s sojourn in Antigua and St. Kitts is unfortunately the least interesting part of the account. At the time these islands were entirely given over to sugar plantations worked by slaves. She has little to say on the subject, spending her time on social calls to the plantation owning elite. She does dislike excessive cruelty towards the slaves and praises one plantation owner, a family friend, for his “benevolent” treatment. In fairness this owner did seem to treat his slaves better than some others, but it was all relative.
The Carolina section was a marked contrast. She arrived in February 1775, leaving in November, and was therefore present in the lead-up to the American Revolution. Her account provides a valuable contemporary record of this period, albeit one from an entirely partisan perspective. Janet dislikes Carolina from the start as “there is a disgusting equality” between the classes, but she also describes an extremely tense atmosphere. Of one of her early acquaintances she remarks “I would fain his good sense will prevent him from joining schemes, which I see plainly are forming here, and which I fear you at home are suffering to gain too much ground from mistaken mercy to a people, who have a rooted hatred at you and despise your mercy…” Her status as a “lady of quality” means she is treated with a degree of deference not extended to other Empire Loyalists, but she nevertheless finds her stay unpleasant and is glad to get away, as she knows war is coming.
Janet is back on form in Portugal, where she makes some interesting observations on the lives of upper-class Portuguese women of the period, who were essentially secluded indoors at all times. There was a passing remark of particular interest to me, where she reports on meeting a Briton, General Maclean, whom the King of Portugal had appointed as Governor of the city of Lisbon and commander of the Portuguese land forces. A footnote tells me that this was a Francis Maclean of Blaich, a tiny crofting community not far from where I live. What a pity we don’t know more of his life story!
Janet is an entertaining correspondent. The Introduction describes her as “vivacious” and she does come over as someone very much at home at balls, parties, and other social settings. She values the social conventions of the era and has a liking for men who pay her compliments and who behave with “gallantry.” At the same time she is sometimes willing to poke fun at herself. On the other hand, she displays the unvarnished racial attitudes of a European of the 1770s. You have been warned!
The book falls into four parts, beginning with the initial transatlantic journey, which made landfall in Antigua. They subsequently made a separate journey to St. Kitts. Janet may have been privileged by the standards of the day, but her journey from Scotland to Antigua was made in conditions we would consider almost unbearable. The ship was dangerously overloaded, and they were caught in a 12-day storm during which it must have come very close to sinking. Janet tells of how her own cabin was flooded with seawater almost to the level of her bunk. After a day or two at sea, she also found that the ship was carrying a party of emigrants from Orkney, who had been smuggled aboard. Although initially repelled by their dirty and lice-ridden condition, after a few days she regards them with considerable sympathy.
Janet’s sojourn in Antigua and St. Kitts is unfortunately the least interesting part of the account. At the time these islands were entirely given over to sugar plantations worked by slaves. She has little to say on the subject, spending her time on social calls to the plantation owning elite. She does dislike excessive cruelty towards the slaves and praises one plantation owner, a family friend, for his “benevolent” treatment. In fairness this owner did seem to treat his slaves better than some others, but it was all relative.
The Carolina section was a marked contrast. She arrived in February 1775, leaving in November, and was therefore present in the lead-up to the American Revolution. Her account provides a valuable contemporary record of this period, albeit one from an entirely partisan perspective. Janet dislikes Carolina from the start as “there is a disgusting equality” between the classes, but she also describes an extremely tense atmosphere. Of one of her early acquaintances she remarks “I would fain his good sense will prevent him from joining schemes, which I see plainly are forming here, and which I fear you at home are suffering to gain too much ground from mistaken mercy to a people, who have a rooted hatred at you and despise your mercy…” Her status as a “lady of quality” means she is treated with a degree of deference not extended to other Empire Loyalists, but she nevertheless finds her stay unpleasant and is glad to get away, as she knows war is coming.
Janet is back on form in Portugal, where she makes some interesting observations on the lives of upper-class Portuguese women of the period, who were essentially secluded indoors at all times. There was a passing remark of particular interest to me, where she reports on meeting a Briton, General Maclean, whom the King of Portugal had appointed as Governor of the city of Lisbon and commander of the Portuguese land forces. A footnote tells me that this was a Francis Maclean of Blaich, a tiny crofting community not far from where I live. What a pity we don’t know more of his life story!
October 3, 2019
A fascinating look at life in the british empire just as the American revolution is beginning. Her observations are very personal, and at times hilarious. She admits that she is biased, but is not afraid to be blunt at times. Not only is Janet Schaw a staunch loyalist, she also comments on the lower classes of society. Prepare yourself for some blatant racism as she describes the lives of the enslaved. Even so, her travels put her into contact with many influential people about which the footnotes and appendices give you plenty of biographical information.
January 3, 2018
This is a great window into life of those traveling to America in the 1770s!
March 8, 2018
Very interesting I’m sure, and quite amusing at times, but rather dull all the same.
July 4, 2019
Absolutely fascinating! Janet Schaw's journal was discovered by chance during a search for other material in the British Museum in 1904; her identity wasn't established until later. Her description of elite life in the Caribbean is downright idyllic, while the events leading up to the American Revolution are genuinely gripping.
March 9, 2012
A first hand account of life aboard ship, sailing from England to Antigua in the 1700's. I enjoyed the details in descriptions of dinners served, table settings, and everyday life on a plantation- all from a woman's perspective, seldom read about in history books. As she travels to Virginia and the Carolina's, she shares her opinions of the excitement and confusion taking place just before the Revolutionary War.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews