Alicia Ann Spottiswoode (Alicia Scott) was born at Spottiswoode House in the Borders (formerly Berwickshire) on 24 June 1810. She was a Scottish songwriter and composer known chiefly for the tune, Annie Laurie, to which the words of a 17th-century poet, William Douglas, were set. She was the oldest daughter of John Spottiswoode of Berwickshire and his wife Helen Wauchope of Niddrie-Mains. On 16 March 1836 she married Lord John Douglas Scott, a younger son of the 4th Duke of Buccleuch, and consequently is alternatively known by her courtesy title of Lady John Scott. Lord Scott died in 1860. Lady Scott was a champion of traditional Scots language, history and culture, her motto being 'Haud [hold] fast by the past'. Annie Laurie was published in 1838. Scott died at Spottiswoode on 12 March 1900.

Alicia's family home, Spottiswoode House, underwent major rebuilding in 1832-34, and in her poem or song The Lament of the Auld House of Spottiswood, the house humourously chides the laird for desecrating his family's childhood memories.