Winifred Maxwell, Countess of Nithsdale

During the early eighteenth century Winifred, Lady Nithsdale , wrote family letters about business and relationships. She is remembered for the letter to her sister which tells, with a historian's narrative flair and command of detail, how when her husband (a Jacobite) was condemned to death for treason, she planned and carried through the daring coup of smuggling him out of prison.