Grizel Baillie

• Birth Name — Grizel Hume • Born — 25 December 1665 • Birthplace — Redbraes Castle, Berwickshire • Died — 6 December 1746 (aged 80) • Place of death — London • Occupation — songwriter • Notable Works — Were na my heart licht I wad die

• Illustration — The lantern teenaged Hume used when visiting her father in hiding, Museum of Scotland Born at Redbraes Castle, Berwickshire, Grizel Hume was the eldest daughter of Grisell Ker and Sir Patrick Hume (later Earl of Marchmont). When she was twelve years old, she carried letters from her father to a Scottish conspirator in the Rye House Plot, Robert Baillie of Jerviswood, who was then in prison. Hume's sympathy for Baillie made him a suspected man and the king's troops occupied Redbraes Castle. He remained in hiding for some time in the crypt of Polwarth Church, where his daughter smuggled food to him; but on hearing of the execution of Baillie (1684), he fled to the United Provinces, where his family joined him soon after. They returned to Scotland after the Glorious Revolution. In 1692, Lady Grizel married George Baillie, son of Robert. The couple had first met when they were twelve and supposedly, fell in love at that point. What is known for certain is that after returning to Scotland, Lady Grizel turned down the offer to be one of Queen Mary's maids of honour, and insisted to her parents on marrying Baillie over a more advantageous match. The couple had two daughters: Grizel (1692–1759), who married British Army officer Sir Alexander Murray of Stanhope in 1710; and Rachel (1696–1773), who married Charles Lord Binning in 1717 (and whose son Thomas became the seventh Earl of Haddington). They also had a short-lived son, Robert. She died in London on 6 December 1746, and was buried at Mellerstain on 25 December, her eighty-first birthday.

Her elder daughter, Lady Grizel Murray of Stanhope, had in her possession a manuscript in prose and verse of her mother's songs. Some of them had been printed in Allan Ramsay's, Tea-Table Miscellany. The most famous of Lady Grizel's Scots songs, "And werena my heart light I wad dee", originally appeared in William Thomson's Orpheus Caledonius, or a Collection of the Best Scotch Songs (1725).

The authorities additionally record the headings Lady Grizell, Grisell Hume, Lady Grisell Baillie, Lady Grisell and Grisell Hume Baillie. Her recorded language was English. She was the child of Patrick Hume, 1st Earl of Marchmont and Grizel Ker. She married George Baillie. 3 children are recorded: Rachel Baillie, Grisell Baillie Murray and unknown Baillie.