The Singin’ Lass: Selected Works of Marion Angus

As a young, strong-willed Victorian “new woman” in Arbroath, Marion wrote colourful, witty and perceptive diaries and articles which revealed her to be knowledgeable, well-travelled, cultured and opinionated. After the death of her father in 1902, however, she assumed a traditional female role, caring for her mother and younger sister. It was not until freed of family responsibilities during the First World War that she started to write poetry. In 1931, at the age of 66, Marion became effectively homeless after serious family problems. She began to live a peripatetic existence, staying with family and friends and in a series of lodgings for thirteen years until taken to Arbroath to be looked after by Miss Williamina Matthew, an “intimate friend”, for the last two years of her life. Marion’s work is modern and imaginative in its approach. The apparent simplicity of her strong and hauntingly sympathetic lyrical poetry is deceptive. This publication is supported by Angus Council’s Cultural Services.