CAMPBELL, Mary Maxwell

A gifted composer and lyricist from an early age her first and most famous piece, "The March of the Cameron Men" first appeared in print in James Davie's Caledonian Repository in 1829 when she was just 16. Originally published anonymously, Campbell only revealed herself as the author of the march after others began to claim authorship and it was not until 1866 that the piece was published with her name attached.

A gifted musician, she set many of her own pieces to music, many of which were targeted at children. She produced a series of songs with music for children and her pieces were included in many anthologies of Scottish poets in her own lifetime. She never married and in later years lived with her sister Jessie Skene of Pitlour, at St Andrews. She was well connected in literary circles throughout her life and was a friend and correspondent of the poet Agnes Strickland and literary critic Principal Shairp, for whom she wrote the music to his poem "The Lass of Loch Linnhe".