Margaret Chalmers (12 December 1758 – 12 March 1827) was a Scottish poet, self-styled "first British Thulian quill".
[1] Her father, William, is said to have been the son of a Lord Provost of Aberdeen, factor to Earl of Morton and tacksman of various local estates.
[2] The death of her father is not recorded, but by time of Trafalgar, her mother and one of the sisters were bedridden and the family was living in penury.
Like her younger fellow Lerwegian poet, Dorothea Primrose Campbell, whose life was similarly marred by poverty, Chalmers arranged to publish her poetry by subscription and her solitary book was published in Newcastle in 1813, after long delays during which many subscribers lost interest.
However, there is nothing suggesting she ever received a reply; it is worth mentioning that she spoke to him as an equal in the letters held at the National Library of Scotland.