Starting from the beginning...and leaping forwards

What makes anyone choose one direction as opposed to another? Why does one person follow the customs of their cultural group and another choose to not to? I've been fascinated with why and how Isabella ended up going against the flow: what made her decide that the traditional path of marriage and child-rearing was not enough for her and gave her the motivation to train as a doctor?

What do the documents reveal? Birth certificates, census returns....

Born in 1887, Isabella was the first of the family, her birth certificate shows that she was born in Rosslyn Crescent, Leith. And you can see it on Google maps even if you can't get to Edinburgh.


View Larger Map

I was so excited when I found this out, I instantly searched a bit further. Lo and behold, her father's grain merchant business was only a few blocks away in Springfield Street. Not much commuting for him.

View Larger Map

The 1891 census confirms the address, but by 1901, they had moved to John's Place, not far away.


View Larger Map

Isabella lived there with her parents and her three sisters as well as Rose Clyne, a cook, kitchen maid and domestic, and Georgina Burns a house maid and domestic. 

While the 2011 census was taking place, I heard a play about some Edinburgh women who decided that if they didn't exist for the purposes of electing a government, they wouldn't exist for the purposes of being counted in the 1911 census. They hid and held secret parties to avoid the count. So imagine my excitement when I found that in 1911, only William, Janet and one of the girls, Bethia, were at home in John's Place. Were Isabella, Janetta and Ena amongst these activist women?

Hoping they were, I searched further for the sake of integrity. I was quite disappointed when I eventually found them. Janetta was in another house in Leith. Good social life? Sleep-over just like nowadays? But where were Isabella and Ena.....At last I tracked them down. They were in Newtown, where William's brother had a farm. So nothing thrilling that proved secret suffrage leanings, but evidence instead of family ties. Life instead of romantic dreams. But here's a teaser for next time: in the 1901 census, all the girls are described as Scholars. Where, why, how common was that at that time......