Scott Monument, E. Princes St Gardens, Edinburgh EH2 2EJ
In 1821, Scott wrote: India is ‘the corn chest for Scotland, where we poor gentry must send our youngest sons as we send our black cattle to the South’. Scott’s novella, A Surgeon’s Daughter, is partly set in India and friends serving there helped with details. Family, like brother Robert and cousin James Russell, were in the East India Company; his wife Charlotte received about £40,000 annually (today’s value) from her brother in India. Walter helped his nephew to an Indian position – but discouraged his sons: Walter went to Madras only after his father’s death, and died en route home.
Statue of Sir Walter Scott.
Watercolour portrait of Sir Walter Scott’s son Walter in Hussars’ uniform.
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