Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Laidlaw, Anna Robena
LAIDLAW, ANNA ROBENA, afterwards Mrs. Thomson (1819–1901), pianist, daughter of Alexander Laidlaw, a merchant, by his wife Ann Keddy, was born at Bretton, Yorkshire, on 30 April 1819. Her family, who were intimate with Sir Walter Scott, claimed connection with the Laidlaws of Chapelhope and Glenrath; Scott's Willie Laidlaw and James Hogg's wife, Margaret Laidlaw, were kinsfolk (cf. Patterson's Schumann, 1903). In 1827 Robena Laidlaw went to Edinburgh, where she studied music with Robert Müller. Her family removed to Königsberg in 1830, and there she continued her musical studios under Georg Tag, subsequently taking lessons from Henri Herz, in London, in 1834. In that year she played at William IV's court and at Paganini's farewell concert. Returning to Germany, she gave pianoforte recitals in Berlin with much applause, and visited Warsaw, St. Petersburg, Dresden, and Vienna. She made the acquaintance of Schumann, who dedicated to her his 'Fantasiestücke,' Op. 12, and wrote of her playing at the Gewandhaus Hall, Leipzig, in July 1837, as 'thoroughly good and individual.' 'This artiste,' he added, 'in whose culture are united English solidity and natural amiability, mil remain a treasured memory to all who have made her closer acquaintance' (Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, 11 July 1837). Several letters were addressed to her by Schumann, one of which is given in facsimile in Dr. Patterson's biography of the oomposer (pp. 106, 107). At Schumann's suggestion she transposed, as being more 'Musical,' the original order of her Christian names, from Robena Anna to Anna Robena. She was appointed pianist to the Queen of Hanover, and remained in Germany until 1840, when she settled in London. After her marriage to George Thomson in 1852 she retired from public life. She died in London on 29 May 1901, and was buried at Woking after cremation. She had four daughters.
[Mendel's Musikalisches Conversationa-Lexikon, 1875; Dr. Annio W. Patterson's Schumann, 1903; Zeitschrift Int. Mus. Ges. iii. 188 ff.; Rellstab's Life of Ludwig Berger, 1846; Grove's Dict. of Music, 1906, ii. 622; information from her daughter, Miss Robena Thomson.]