This page is devoted to an unlikely subject - a family from my home city (Dundee, Scotland) who produced an outstanding range of works in several of the arts, among them two composers, including the first Scottish lady to compose an opera (to her own libretto), two poets, and two painters... and all on the back of Dundee's principle industry at the time (the closing decades of the 19th century): the production of jute.

The family in question are the Smietons: husband and wife, Thomas and Jane Paxton, and their two sons James and John More: both the parents exhibited work at the Royal Scottish Academy, James and Jane published poetry and other literature, Jane and John wrote and published music, some of it prize-winning - nowadays, like a lot of Victoriana, totally forgotten or under-esteemed.

It is my intention to highlight the importance of Dundee as a musical centre in Scotland from 1860-1900, when documents survive in the city's Central Library, and hopefully to draw the musical world's attention to one, if not two, unjustly neglected Scottish composers.

According to his obituary (19th July 1886), Thomas Anderson Smieton "the eldest son of the late James Smieton, founder of the firm of James Smieton & Sons, linen and jute manufacturers, Panmure  Works, Carnoustie... never took much interest in public affairs... An accomplished musician himself, he did much to promote a taste for his favourite study in Dundee and the neighbourhood."

The 1891 census gives us some idea of the surroundings in which his widow and son, James, lived. The servants at Panmure Villa in Broughty Ferry included Jessie Chalmers, a cook and domestic from nearby Barry, Mary Anderson, a tablemaid from Broughty Ferry, Margaret Ritchie, a housemaid from Woodside in Aberdeenshire. In Panmure Villa bothy lived Robert Kay and Andrew McFauld, gardeners (from Dundee and Scone respectively). Donald Robertson lived in the Coachman's House with his wife, Margaret, and their three young children.

Jane was the daughter of Rev. John More of Cairneyhill in Fife. She married Thomas Smieton in 1852. She was undoubtedly the driving force behind the family's artistic pursuits.