Fashionably Scottish: The Duchess of Gordon and Scottish Identity in British High Society, 1767–1812

Decades before George IV’s highly publicised and ‘tartanised’ visit to Edinburgh in 1822, Jane, duchess of Gordon played an important role in making Scottish culture desirable to London’s high society. Using her position as a successful political hostess for members of the government of William Pitt the Younger, Jane publicly supported and patronised Scottish arts and culture, including music, dance and clothing. In addition to making Scottish culture fashionable in the Ton, Jane used her visible social position to showcase both her loyalty to the Hanoverian monarchy and her passion for her homeland, thus demonstrating that Scottish identity could fit comfortably within an evolving model of British national identity. This article argues that the duchess of Gordon contributed to the ongoing reshaping of Scottish identity in the later Georgian period, from a symbol of Jacobitism and rebellion to one of loyalty and romanticism. Best known as an early patroness of Robert Burns, Jane’s impact on the development and expression of Scottish national identity has been largely 2 overlooked by historians. Yet she stands as a significant example of the soft power exercised by elite women in the political and cultural realms of Georgian Britain.