Jane Pirie (27 March 1779 – 6 March 1833) was a Scottish woman who opened an exclusive girls' school in Edinburgh in 1809 [1] and who became involved in a court case as a result of being accused of displays of "inordinate affection"[2] with the co-founder of the school, Marianne Woods (1781–1870).
Jane Pirie and Marianne Woods denied the allegations and sued Lady Cumming Gordon for £10,000.
In the end, the financially ruined school teachers received little more than £1,000 after paying ruinous legal costs.
The story of the court case was the inspiration for Lillian Hellman's 1934 play The Children's Hour.
[3] Two Hollywood films were inspired by this story: These Three in 1936 which starred Miriam Hopkins, Merle Oberon and Joel McCrea, and The Children's Hour in 1961, both directed by William Wyler, which set the story in the United States and starred Audrey Hepburn, Shirley MacLaine and James Garner.