EDINBURGH DIARY 1793-1798 (FONTHILL)

In 1793, the Witts family arrived in Edinburgh. A previously well-to-do Oxfordshire/Gloucestershire family, they were brought to near bankruptcy by the failure of Edward Witts’ woollen cloth trading business. Within a few months, Edward and Agnes had built a wide circle of friends and acquaintances in Edinburgh society where her magnetic personality worked its magic. In a remarkable series of sixty-two diaries covering the years 1793-1798, she recorded her life in a structured and unvarying manner. These remarkable diaries provide a snapshot of Edinburgh society at a time of remarkable change when the city was rising to prominence as the ‘Athens of the North’. It was the new middle classes that were at the forefront of the enlightenment and Agnes’ diaries provide a fascinating glimpse into the social fabric at the time.