Joanna Baillie

Baillie was born on 11 September 1762 in Bothwell. Her mother, Dorothea Hunter (c. 1721–1806), was a sister of the Scottish physicians and anatomists William and John Hunter. Her father, Rev. James Baillie (c. 1722–1778), was a Presbyterian minister, and in his last two years Professor of Divinity at the University of Glasgow. Her aunt, Anne Home Hunter, was a poet. The Baillies were an old Scottish family which claimed descent from the Scottish patriot, Sir William Wallace. Wallace is not known to have had any children, however. Joanna Baillie was the youngest of three children: her twin sister died unnamed as a baby, her surviving sister was Agnes Baillie (1760–1861), who lived to be a…