BARBARA STUART OF BOGGS (1737-1823)
Miss Barbara (Babie) Stuart, Laird of Boggs in the Enzie district of Banffshire represents one of the last examples of a Roman Catholic bonnet laird with extensive and cosmopolitan connections to Catholic Europe demonstrating the strength of links between rural North-East Scotland and the Continent.
Barbara Stuart was born at Boggs (located just south of the modern A98 road near Buckie) in 1737. Throughout her life she was universally called Miss Babie. She was the second daughter of John Stuart of Boggs (1701-1780) and his wife Jean Lindsay. She had one elder sister, Henrietta, and four young ones, Jean, Katherine, Mary and Charlotte. The Stuarts of Boggs were a cadet branch of the Steuarts of Tannachy (and Auchlunkart) and she was a kinswoman of Harriot Steuart Lady Leith Hall. The Stuarts of Boggs like many in the Enzie district were staunchly Recusant, and the neighbour was one of the heartlands of Scottish Catholicism during the periods of persecution. The family adhered to the Jacobite cause.
For several generations the sons of the family had been sent to be educated by the Benedictines at the Schottenkloster in Regensburg. Barbara's great-uncle, Charles Stuart (1664-1720), as Pater Maurus Stuart became Professor at Erfürt and Abbot of Skt Jacob, the Schottenkloster in Regensburg. Three of her uncles were also sent to Regensburg as young boys. Alexander Stuart (1706-1755) became Pater Bernhard Stuart and is noted as a mathematician, clockmaker, physicist and architect (designing the summer palace of the Prince Archbishop of Salzburg) before emulating his uncle to become Abbot of the Schottenkloster in Regensburg. Charles Stuart (1709-1781) became Pater Maurus Stuart the younger and was Prior of the Schottenkloster. Patrick Stuart, the youngest of Babie's uncles, became a General in the Russian Army and married Countess Hannah Luise von Lacy; their son, Patrick Stuart (1740-1808) became a Count of the Holy Roman Empire and Feldmarschall-Leutnant of the Imperial Austrian Army. Count Patrick Stuart was to play a significant part in the final years of Miss Babie's life.
Miss Babie, as she was universally known in the locality, was a woman of great charity and compassion. She and her sisters lived quiet lives as landed spinster ladies. Money was seldom plentiful as the estate of Boggs was little more than a modestly sized farm, but they had great gentility and pride in their ancestry. They devoted themselves to their Roman Catholic faith and to helping those less fortunate than themselves. Miss Babie in particular in recorded as being godmother or sponsor at numerous baptisms locally, people of all station in life, and of all religious denominations.
In 1808, her first cousin, Count Patrick Stuart died in Prague. Eventually, in spite of war raging across Europe, Miss Babie was informed that she would receive a legacy from her cousin. The old family connections stretched from Banffshire to St Petersburg, Vienna and Regensburg had not been forgotten. Her friends and neighbours were excited on her behalf and expectations were great. It took until 1819 for the matter to be resolved and the legacy turned out to be extremely modest.
With the characteristic humility that endeared her to everyone locally, Miss Babie wrote:
Barbara Stuart was born at Boggs (located just south of the modern A98 road near Buckie) in 1737. Throughout her life she was universally called Miss Babie. She was the second daughter of John Stuart of Boggs (1701-1780) and his wife Jean Lindsay. She had one elder sister, Henrietta, and four young ones, Jean, Katherine, Mary and Charlotte. The Stuarts of Boggs were a cadet branch of the Steuarts of Tannachy (and Auchlunkart) and she was a kinswoman of Harriot Steuart Lady Leith Hall. The Stuarts of Boggs like many in the Enzie district were staunchly Recusant, and the neighbour was one of the heartlands of Scottish Catholicism during the periods of persecution. The family adhered to the Jacobite cause.
For several generations the sons of the family had been sent to be educated by the Benedictines at the Schottenkloster in Regensburg. Barbara's great-uncle, Charles Stuart (1664-1720), as Pater Maurus Stuart became Professor at Erfürt and Abbot of Skt Jacob, the Schottenkloster in Regensburg. Three of her uncles were also sent to Regensburg as young boys. Alexander Stuart (1706-1755) became Pater Bernhard Stuart and is noted as a mathematician, clockmaker, physicist and architect (designing the summer palace of the Prince Archbishop of Salzburg) before emulating his uncle to become Abbot of the Schottenkloster in Regensburg. Charles Stuart (1709-1781) became Pater Maurus Stuart the younger and was Prior of the Schottenkloster. Patrick Stuart, the youngest of Babie's uncles, became a General in the Russian Army and married Countess Hannah Luise von Lacy; their son, Patrick Stuart (1740-1808) became a Count of the Holy Roman Empire and Feldmarschall-Leutnant of the Imperial Austrian Army. Count Patrick Stuart was to play a significant part in the final years of Miss Babie's life.
Miss Babie, as she was universally known in the locality, was a woman of great charity and compassion. She and her sisters lived quiet lives as landed spinster ladies. Money was seldom plentiful as the estate of Boggs was little more than a modestly sized farm, but they had great gentility and pride in their ancestry. They devoted themselves to their Roman Catholic faith and to helping those less fortunate than themselves. Miss Babie in particular in recorded as being godmother or sponsor at numerous baptisms locally, people of all station in life, and of all religious denominations.
In 1808, her first cousin, Count Patrick Stuart died in Prague. Eventually, in spite of war raging across Europe, Miss Babie was informed that she would receive a legacy from her cousin. The old family connections stretched from Banffshire to St Petersburg, Vienna and Regensburg had not been forgotten. Her friends and neighbours were excited on her behalf and expectations were great. It took until 1819 for the matter to be resolved and the legacy turned out to be extremely modest.
With the characteristic humility that endeared her to everyone locally, Miss Babie wrote:
Bogs, March 4th 1819 |
The letter demonstrates amply Miss Babie's remarkable character and modesty. The affection she was held in locally is shown in an account by
William Tod of Auchenhalrig and Finfan in his volume 'The Correspondence of an old Scotch Factor':
William Tod of Auchenhalrig and Finfan in his volume 'The Correspondence of an old Scotch Factor':
We afterwards all three dined with Miss Babie Stuart at Boggs, along with Miss Charlotte Tod who happened to have been her guest for some days preceding; and in the afternoon I shook hands in silent sorrow, and parted for ever with Miss Babie, the most intimate, the earliest, and the dearest friend I ever had.” |
Miss Barbara Stuart of Boggs died on 20 August 1823. She is buried with her parents and sisters in the Stuart family enclosure at St Ninian's Tynet, that remarkable Roman Catholic kirkyard in the heart of the Enzie. Her epitaph reads.
Barbara the last surviving daughter of the family who departed this life on the 20th August 1823 in the 86th year of her age and whose benevolent Charity to the poor and amiable manners gained her the general and just respect and esteem of all ranks of society to where she was know. |
Entry written by Peter Reid
