Carolina Oliphant

[close] Carolina Oliphant, Lady Nairne, (1766 – 1845) was a Scottish songwriter and song collector. She was the author of many songs often today thought of as traditional. The daughter of a staunchly Jacobite family, she wrote in sympathy with the cause, setting her songs to old tunes.

Her father, Laurence Oliphant, was a prominent Jacobite, and she was named Carolina in memory of Prince Charles Edward Stuart. In 1806 she married William Murray Nairne, who became the 5th Lord Nairne in 1824. After her husband's death in 1830 Lady Nairne took up her residence at Enniskerry, Co. Wicklow, Ireland, but she spent much time abroad. She died at Gask on 26 October 1845.

Following the example set by Robert Burns, Lady Nairne undertook to bring out a collection of national airs with appropriate words set to them. To the collection she contributed a large number of original songs, adopting the signature BB - Mrs Bogan of Bogan. The music was edited by Robert Archibald Smith, and the collection was published in Edinburgh under the name of the Scottish Minstrel (1821–1824). According to the Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Scotsmen, Carolina Oliphant's first composition in Scottish verse was The Pleughman [the Scots language spelling for ploughman].

Her songs may be classed under three headings:

1. those illustrative of the characters and manners of the old Scottish gentry, such as The Laird o' Cockpen, The Fife Laird, and John Tod;
2. Jacobite songs, among the best known of which are perhaps Wha'll be King but Charlie? Charlie is my Darling, The Hundred Pipers, He's Ower the Hills," and Will Ye No' Come Back Again?; and
3. Songs not included under the above heads, ranging over a variety of subjects from Caller Herrin' to Land o' the Leal