Elizabeth was said to be one of Dundee’s earliest woman writers, a learned woman, a friend of Mrs Lindsay, a headmaster’s wife. Although her poems were published there appears to be no extant copy of her works, the only example being in Alan Reid’s The Bards of Angus (1897), which suggests that her verse was conventional.
In suffr’ings be my strength, O Lord,
In weakness be my Love;
And when the storm of life doth cease,
Then take my soul above.
She is buried in the Howff, and was obviously considered to merit a lengthy inscription; it reads: “She was gifted with a great memory/ Possessed a mind well stored with the/ Holy Scriptures & although blind/ For many years composed a number/ Of poems on religious subjects. She was much respected by all who knew her. The gospel was her joy and song / Even to her latest breath;/ The truth she had maintained so long/ Was her support in death etc.etc. She bequeathed £5 to the Kirk Session, £3 to the Dundee Female Society and 10/6d to the Clothing Society – the profits of poetry sales. Elizabeth is included as one of Norrie’s Dundee Celebrities.