Personal data
Isabella Schaw
ca.
Born 1740  
Isabella Thomson

Daughter of Dr David Thomson, a physician at Edinburgh. Married (November 28, 1762, in Edinburgh) to Capt. Frederik Bridges Schaw.1 According to Boswell, she was "[a] woman of a good deal of knowledge, pretty good sense, much vivacity, and a prodigious flow of words".2

Boswell had apparently been in love with her at some time in 1762 (probably in Edinburgh). He met her again in London on March 15, 1763, and they had tea together on March 20, 1763. Later on, in Edinburgh in the 1770s, Boswell and the Schaws moved in the same social circles and they met occasionally.

    Boswell's London Journal 1762-1763

    Unless otherwise noted, the source for a dated quotation of Boswell's is generally the corresponding volume of the Yale Trade Editions of Boswell's journals.