Jessie M. E. Saxby

JESSIE MARGARET EDMONDSTON was born in Baltasound on Unst in 1842 to notable parents - her father a naturalist and her mother a journalist. She married Henry Saxby in 1859; they had six children. Following a move to Edinburgh, Henry died, and Saxby began to support the family through her writing. Her first book, Lichens from the Old Rock, collecting together her poetry to date, was published in 1868. She went on to publish novels, adventure stories, more poetry, and particularly Shetland folklore with great success, becoming the most influential woman writer of the isles in her time. She moved back to Unst in 1890, and died there in 1940 at the age of 98.