Background
Maria Woodley was the daughter of William Woodley, Governor of the Leeward Islands.
Maria Woodley was the daughter of William Woodley, Governor of the Leeward Islands.
In early 1794, he made a drunken overture to her which resulted in them quarrelling and Burns losing the support of his patron, who died that year. She was also a friend of the novelist and poet Helen Craik, another admirer of Burns. Her husband lost Woodley Park and another property, and died at the end of the century.