Mary Diana Dods

Born around 1790, Mary Diana Dods was a Scottish writer who also used the pen names David Lyndsay and Walter Sholto Douglas. Modern reference sources describe Dods as the illegitimate child of George Douglas, 15th Earl of Morton, and note that much of the writing career was built through magazine work, stories, and books published in the 1820s.

Dods is especially remembered for living publicly as Walter Sholto Douglas in later years. Sources also connect Dods closely with Mary Shelley, who appears in accounts of Douglas's life and correspondence. Among the best-known works linked to Dods are Tales of the Wild and the Wonderful and Dramas of the Ancient World.

Some details of the life remain uncertain, including the exact year of death: sources in this search give 1830, while some library records suggest 1829?. What is clear is that Dods left behind both an unusual body of writing and one of the most striking personal histories in Romantic-era literary circles.