Robert Burns paid tribute to her as "a votary of the Muses"
Maria Banks Woodley was the daughter of William Woodley, governor of the Leeward Islands, although she was born and educated in England. She met her husband, Walter Riddell, in St Kitts (he owned an estate in Antigua) and became his second wife when she was nearly eighteen. Their eldest daughter was born in 1791, after they had returned to Britain. She probably made an acquaintance of Robert Burns shortly after.
