Jean Elliot

Who was Jean Elliot?

Jean Elliot, also known as Jane Elliot, was a Scottish poet, and the third daughter of Sir Gilbert Elliot of Minto, Lord Justice Clerk of Scotland in 1763. Her brothers included Gilbert, John, and Andrew Elliot.

Elliot wrote one of the most famous versions of The Flowers of the Forest, a song lamenting the disaster of Flodden Field in 1513 which begins "I've heard the lilting at our yowe-milking". Published in 1776, it is her only surviving work. The lyrics are set to a tune later collected into a melody by John Skene.

Another ballad with the same title beginning, "I've seen the smiling of fortune beguiling" had been written by Alicia Rutherford.

She died at Monteviot House near Jedburgh in the Borders of Scotland.