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Scotland (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Scotland => Ross & Cromarty => Topic started by: SWH1 on Tuesday 21 October 14 16:08 BST (UK)
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Hi, and i really hope someone can help. I am trying to trace this lady's past as part of a ww1 project.
I think she was born in Tain 1974 father james, she died in 1959 in Italy. I am trying to find out if she ever lived in Grange Loan Edinburgh and street lane Leeds. I think she served with the Scottish womens hospitals during ww1 at Troyes in France. Here is my website for more details on that. http://scottishwomenshospitals.co.uk
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Hi ,
There is this reference -
https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FQ4S-PZZ
ev
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Thank you Ev, but am really wanting to know if she lived in Edinburgh or Leeds.. i have become stuck.
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It may not help you much but this looks to be a child of Police Inspector JAMES GORDON, Tain. He would later become Supt in charge of Isle of Lewis before being appointed Chief Constable of Ross & Cromarty in 1888, retiring in 1898. He died in Dingwall 24th May 1902. His wife BARBARA WALLACE ROSS, died 16th Oct. 1898. Both are buried in Dingwall. Although both were living in Tain at time of marriage (1868), they were married in EDINBURGH (10 St Andrew Square - although that may possibly have been the manse of the minister who married them?) Unfortunately I have no information on their daughter Isobella W. Gordon after the 1901 census when she (27 and unmarried) and her younger sister were still staying at home with their father in Dingwall. (Chief Constable Gordon's mother's maiden surname was Warren, by the way, which would explain Isobella's middle name)
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Cheers for that, certainly am getting closer and there is a connection to Edinburgh. Not easy this one..
Alan
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Sorry I've no credits on Scotlands People.
But doing a free search turns up a Isabella W Gordon as a property owner at Dingwall, Ross & Cromarty on the 1905 Valuation Rolls. The original document would need to be viewed to confirm it's the lady you are researching.
There is also a Isabella Gordon (no middle initial) age 35 ( a bit out if the lady was born 1874 ) at Dingwall on the 1911 Census.
Again you would need to view on Scotland's People.
There are also at least 3 Isabella Gordons of the correct age 36/38 in Midlothian on 1911 Census.
The only Isabella W Gordon is 52 years old :-\ and in Lanarkshire.
The 1915 and 1920 Valuation Rolls also have an Isabella W Gordon as a property owner at Dingwall.
So Isabella appears to own property in Dingwall before during and after the Great War. Whether she is living in Dingwall during 1911 , or renting out her property, you would need to look at original Valuation Rolls & Census. Finding her ion the Scottish 1911 could take time and SP credits - there are 35 Isabella Gordons between ages 35 -40 in Scotland.
Good luck with your research for your interesting website,
Looby :)
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Many thanks, i tryed her personal files yesterday at Glasgow City Archives, but other that address in Edinburgh and Leeds I cant get her to fit exactly, very close tho.
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What years did you think she lived in Edinburgh?
And what years for Leeds?
Obviously she could have stayed at both addresses , and never have been recorded on a Census etc.
Not sure what info the Valuation Rolls might disclose....if she was the property owner and someone else was renting might her address be recorded ?? I'm not sure , haven't looked at VR's very often :-[
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78 Grange Loan Edinburgh 1918. odd tho as she was in Salonika until 1919.
Street Lane Leeds in 1915, must have been here prior to going to Serbia october 1915.
Alan
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Have you looked at a death certificate for her?
You say she died in Italy in 1959. Do you have an exact date of death?
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There is a death registration on Scotlands People for a Isabella W Gordon born 1+/- 1874 in 1960- St Andrew district, Edinburgh, Midlothian.
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In Scotlands people there is a death certificate for her being born in Tain but by this time in Italy. aged 79 staying in a villa, Has an Alex McVicar Church of Scotland(FRIEND)
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So this death certificate must be the one I'm referring to in 1960.
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Might be she was working/living/helping at the sailors rest Genoa as that's mentioned.
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Going to be difficult to prove that she lived at those addresses in Edinburgh and Leeds. I'd look at Valuation Rolls an 1911 Census if I were you. Other than that I would hunt for a newspaper obit. Again not an easy task!!
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All I can add is that Mrs Barbara Gordon (1898) and James Gordon (1902) both appear to have died at their home - "Gordonville" in Dingwall. I've not established what street that house is in (likely renamed since?)
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This might be a clue (hopefully) 37 Grange Loan
"Blind soldiers started being received at a small hostel at No. 37 Grange Loan, Edinburgh in late 1915."
http://www.royalblind.org/scottish-war-blinded/history
I wonder if they have records of nurses or trainees?
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A photo of the headstone of her (possible) parents is at:
http://gravestones.rosscromartyroots.co.uk/picture/number11592.asp
The obituary of either may state where their children were living. Also the informant on a death certificate is usually required to give an address. If Isobella was the informant on either, it may help...?
I may be able to look up a local newspaper archive for the obits if you think it might help, but not for a few weeks.
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That's her folks, and no she was not the informant on either death certificate. The only obituary I have come across is for Chief Constable Gordon and appeared in "Police Review" - 4 lines! In all the census records up to 1901 Isobella's birthplace was given as Tain.
A photo of the headstone of her (possible) parents is at:
http://gravestones.rosscromartyroots.co.uk/picture/number11592.asp
The obituary of either may state where their children were living. Also the informant on a death certificate is usually required to give an address. If Isobella was the informant on either, it may help...?
I may be able to look up a local newspaper archive for the obits if you think it might help, but not for a few weeks.
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Inverness Courier Tuesday 18th October 1898
GORDON, Barbara Wallace Ross, at Gordonville, Dingwall.
It might just be a death notice rather than an obituary, but may be worth a look anyway :)
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Excellent help from everyone, am still looking to tie her in am sure its the right Lady just need the proof. Cheers Alan
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Hi Alan, you will only be able to do that by viewing her death certificate which will have her parents names on it.
Good luck :)
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Street Lane Leeds was the center for the East Leeds Leeds War Hospital. So getting closer and with Fifer1947 information of Grange Loan a pattern is developing. Odd tho as she was an orderly. The death cert does not help only confirm she was from Tain, pity.
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Hello SWH1,
Not sure if this has any relevance to your search. I Googled the address, 78 Grange Loan, Edinburgh and among the list that popped up was this:
Becourt Military Cemetery - The Scottish War Graves Project.
Along with a photograph of the immaculately kept Military Cemetery at Becourt, Somme, France, this site has a photograph of the Headstone for Second Lieutenant J. A. Gordon Cameron.
Details: Cameron, J. A. Gordon.
Rank: Second Lieutenant.
Date of Death: 18/11/1916.
Age: 19.
Regiment: Cameron Highlanders, 3rd Bn.
Cemetery: Becourt Military Cemetery, Becordel-Becourt. Grave Ref: Z. 12.
Additional Information: Son of Margaret Cameron, 78 Grange Loan, Edinburgh, and the late Alexander Cameron.
With son J.A. having the middle name Gordon, could Margaret & Alexander Cameron be relatives that Isobella stayed with while in Edinburgh?
http://scottishwargraves.phpbbweb.com/scottishwargraves-post-23730.html
Regards, Dod.
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Isobella did indeed have a sister Margaret (born 1871), who was married to an Alexander Cameron.
Unfortunately i have no information about Margaret's address in Edinburgh, although I am aware they travelled extensively in Asia due to Alexander's work
Hello SWH1,
Not sure if this has any relevance to your search. I Googled the address, 78 Grange Loan, Edinburgh and among the list that popped up was this:
Becourt Military Cemetery - The Scottish War Graves Project.
Along with a photograph of the immaculately kept Military Cemetery at Becourt, Somme, France, this site has a photograph of the Headstone for Second Lieutenant J. A. Gordon Cameron.
Details: Cameron, J. A. Gordon.
Rank: Second Lieutenant.
Date of Death: 18/11/1916.
Age: 19.
Regiment: Cameron Highlanders, 3rd Bn.
Cemetery: Becourt Military Cemetery, Becordel-Becourt. Grave Ref: Z. 12.
Additional Information: Son of Margaret Cameron, 78 Grange Loan, Edinburgh, and the late Alexander Cameron.
With son J.A. having the middle name Gordon, could Margaret & Alexander Cameron be relatives that Isobella stayed with while in Edinburgh?
http://scottishwargraves.phpbbweb.com/scottishwargraves-post-23730.html
Regards, Dod.
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Hello SWH1 & conner395,
Margaret still at Grange Loan in 1921.
WW1 Medal Rolls Index Cards 1914-1920.
Cameron. J.A. Gordon. 3/Cameron. 2/Lt.
K in A. (Killed in Action)
Medals: Victory Medal & British War Medal.
Correspondence: Mrs. M. Cameron applied for Medals 13/X/21.
Address: Mrs. A. Cameron (Mother)
78 Grange Loan,
Edinburgh.
Possible death on ScotlandsPeople.
Margaret Cameron, other name Gordon died 1954 at Newington, Edinburgh age 82yrs.
Regards, Dod.
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Looks like Margaret holds the keys to this if Margaret was living at Grange loan in 1918 then i have got her as it means she was staying with her sister.. Also found out today that Isobelle was working in constanantinople, running the British Womens Club in 1921. you folks are fantastic helping me with this.
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Well done Dod and conner395 for bringing Margaret into the story and enabling SWH1 to " join the dots" and connect Isabella with Grange Loan.
Looby :)
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Indeed, a big thank you to everyone. I can get started on putting her story together.
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I for one would be fascinated to hear more.
Indeed, a big thank you to everyone. I can get started on putting her story together.
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Ok, i will let you know when the details are on the web site, least i can do. Thank you. I am also in Tain tomorrow night doing a talk/presentation on the SWH, please come along if you are free.
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Thanks to conner395 for drawing my attention to this thread...
Someone a few posts up mentioned the war grave of J.A.G. Cameron, along with his parents Margaret and Alexander. M & A are my great-grandparents and I can confirm that Isabella and Margaret are sisters.
I don't have any definitive evidence for Isabella's whereabouts in the UK after the 1911 census, but Margaret lived at 78 Grange Loan, Edinburgh for a long time. Alexander died there in 1920 in his 50s and as far as I know they were there from their return from their last international posting. This may have been in 1916; I have Alexander's passport from that year showing his progress from Cape Town, zigzagging up the Atlantic to avoid the U boats. In any case, both Alexander and Margaret died at 78 GL, she in 1954.
This is speculation, but it could be that they rented the property from Isabella, who had no immediate use for it while in Italy.
As to Isabella, the information I have on her after 1911 comes from my dad's cousin, another grandchild of Alexander and Margaret. After serving as a nurse in WW1 she ran a pensione in Genoa until being interned as an enemy alien in 1940. After WW2 she again ran, or at least lived in, a pensione, but I'm not sure where. The place name my dad's cousin gave is Rapella, but I can't find anywhere convincing with this name. It may have been the name of the pensione itself, long since disappeared.
I don't have any record of her death and presume she died in Italy.
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Hello SWH1 etc,
Doesn't help you with Isobella but I found this on An***try & thought I'd pass it on.
UK Soldiers Died in The Great War 1914-1919.
Name: James Alstair Gordon Cameron. (Alastair has been miss-spelt)
Death Date: 18 Nov. 1916.
Rank: 2 Lieutenant.
Regiment: Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders.
Battalion: 3rd Battalion.
Type of Casualty: Killed in Action.
&
England & Wales. National Probate Calendar.
Index of Wills & Administration. 1917. Page 438.
CAMERON. James Alastair Gordon of 78 Grange-loan, Edinburgh. Second-Lieutenant 3rd Battalion Cameron Highlanders. Died 18 November 1916 in France on Active Service. Confirmation of Alexander Cameron. Sealed London 26 January. (1917)
Regards, Dod.
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Here's what ive got folks.
sobella's father was James Gordon a Police Inspector at Dingwall. James would later become Supt in charge of Isle of Lewis before being appointed Chief Constable of Ross & Cromarty in 1888. Prior to joining the Scottish Women's Hospitals in October 1915, Isobella had been working at Street Lane, Leeds, a center for the East Leeds War Hospital. She joined the Girton and Newnham unit and sailed to Salonika where she joined Dr Anne McIlroy, the CMO. Deployed to Gevgelija, a frontier town just across the border in Serbia and established a hospital there in a disused factory. In December 1915 the hospital was abandoned and evacuated to Salonica as the allies retreated in the face of the advancing Bulgarian and German armies. The hospital was re-established in Salonica and treated both French and Serbian casualties. In the autumn of 1916 the “American Unit’ of the SWH joined the Girton and Newnham Unit in Macedonia and in the summer of 1918 Isabel Emslie became its CMO. Isobella would spend many years teaming up with Emslie, a friendship and great working relationship. Isobella like many of the women during what time off they had loved to perform plays and entertain each other and the troops. A some point Isobella returned home and stayed with her sister Margaret in Grange Loan, Edinburgh. The summer in Macedonia in 1916 was very hot and brought with it the attendant problems of dysentery, flies and, worse of all, malaria. The nursing duties would have been very heavy indeed. In 1917 Isobella would have witnessed and helped nurse those effected by the great fire of Thessaloniki. The hospital tents themselves were close to burning down. The unit took part in the rapid French and Serbian advance that broke the back of the Bulgarian army and followed them providing assistance to both casualties and civilians as they pursued the retreating Germans and Bulgarians to Skopje, Nish and eventually Belgrade. The hospital at Belgrade was established, equipped and functioning by January 1919, a remarkable achievement. Against the advice of Isabel Emslie, who strongly believed that the SWH had a key role to play in post-war Serbia, in the autumn of 1919 and in accordance with the wishes of the SWH Committee, the hospital was handed over to the Serbian government. Isobella left the SWH in May 1919. Isobella seemed to have made her own way after that and in the early 1920;s was running the British Women's Club in Constantinople. Later she ran a Boarding House in Genoa until being interned as an enemy alien in 1940. After WW2 she lived at Via Ponte, Annibale,Rotondo, Rapella, Isobella died in October 1959.
In 1917 Isobella was awarded the Médaille des Epidémies.
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As I mentioned before, I couldn't find anywhere called Rapella. I had wondered whether this was a mishearing or misremembering on the part of my dad's cousin (who as far as I know doesn't speak Italian) for Rapallo, which definitely exists, a few tens of km to the east of Genoa.
SWH1's precise address clinches it: There is a Via Ponte Anibale in Rapallo - see here on Google Maps (https://www.google.se/maps/place/Via+Ponte+Annibale,+16035+Rapallo+GE,+Italien/@44.3449514,9.226131,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x12d4a0364e71e5f1:0x1ad4c21121f9a234?hl=sv).
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Let me know if more information is needed. I have a collection of postcards sent to/from Isabella.