After the Diaries
Charlotte’s diary ends with an account of New Year’s Eve 1858. There are no diaries or letters from her in our collection beyond this date. In December 1858 in spite of the numerous proposals received she was still single.
We know from our own sources however, that Charlotte married her cousin Edward Octavius Douglas (d. 1890) on 3 November 1859. Born in 1830 he was the youngest of eleven children. His parents Henry Alexander Douglas and Elizabeth Dalzell both died in 1837. Alongside his brother John he went and lived with Aunts at Glenstuart House which belonged to their Uncles the Marquesses of Queensberry. In 1850 he followed his brother to New South Wales, Australia where John settled permanently.
Edward however, returned to Scotland at some point in the following years and in 1859 met and became engaged to Charlotte.
Mary Scott-Kerr wrote to Catty and Sholta within a few days of the marriage:
TorquayNov 9th 1859
My dear sisters
Thank you very much for sending me the cake and cards. I heard from Douglas and _____ that it all went off well and I am glad you like Octavius. It was such a disappointment to me not to be there. Had looked forward to it so long and thought I should have met you there. I could not even think of you at the time for it was not till the afternoon that I got Charlotte’s letter telling me the day was fixed for the 3rd…
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Charlotte and Edward eventually made their home at Killiechassie, Dunkeld (purchased in 1863), now home to Harry Potter author JK Rowling. We can see from the letter above that Mary kept in touch with her sister and she too was to settle in Perthshire marrying James Ramsay of Bamff (Alyth) in 1861.
One letter within our collection gives an insight into the married life of Charlotte and Edward. They were to have no children of their own but looked after their nephews and nieces, children of Edward’s brother Henry who was the Bishop of Bombay. The letter also mentions a visit to Mary’s husband and children. Mary had died the previous year. The letter in full covered seven sides of paper an edited selection is available here
Charlotte and Edward continued to live at Killiechassie for the rest of their lives. Whilst Edward only lived until his 60th birthday Charlotte lived until 1921 at the grand old age of 87. With no heir to inherit the house was sold in 1923.
The Heritage Hub holds a large collection of papers on the Scott Douglas family including Charlotte’s diaries. For a list of papers at the Heritage Hub on Charlotte go to The Charlotte Papers in the Scott Douglas Collection
Sources
Hodes, Jeremy ‘John Douglas the uncompromising liberal’ pp. 46-50 thesis at http://library-resources.cqu.edu.au/thesis/adt-QCQU/uploads/approved/adt-QCQU20070228.145456/public/02whole.pdf. [accessed on 31/05/10}
Research on the Killiechassie Estate, Parish of Logierait by Mr R.I Macfarlane (copy kindly supplied by Mr S Connelly, Archivist Perth & Kinross Council)
