FROM THE ARCHIVES: ‘Detective’ work sheds light on Highland life
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Regular readers of this column might recall that last time we focused on a collection of family papers and photographs belonging to Mary Grace Matheson.
That collection had been found in the loft of a house by someone with no connection to Miss Matheson and the material was subsequently passed to the Highland Archive Centre.
While this is not an unusual way for material to make its way to us, sometimes the circumstances of the discovery are such that the collection could very easily have been destroyed, lost forever, had someone not stepped in and realised that it would be of interest. Who knows what treasures might be in your attic, behind walls, under floorboards?!
Today we are looking at another collection which came to us in a similar manner – that of Isabella Ann MacDonald. It is a collection about which we know very little, other than that the items belonged to Isabella, who lived at Lyndale, Hughton, Kiltarlity.
In combination with other archive records, we are able to carry out some ‘detective’ work and piece together a part, albeit small, of her life.
The collection contains an album of portrait photos which appear to date from the earlier days of photography. Frustratingly, none of the photos have any captions or dates, but the style of clothing in the album suggests late Victorian. The album is colourfully embellished with illustrations of birds and flowers.
The group portrait may be Isabella and her parents, as the 1920s clothing and hairstyle of the young woman fits the age that she would have been around that time.
There are several certificates with Isabella’s name on them in the collection, and from these we can see that she completed a ‘Course of Instruction in Ambulance Work’, presented by St Andrew’s Ambulance Association in 1912. That same year she also trained as a home nurse, and she was a volunteer with the British Red Cross Society during World War I.
Using other records available at the Highland Archive Centre, we can add a little more information to Isabella’s story. On searching through valuation rolls we find that Isabella took over the ownership of Lyndale, her house at Hughton between 1943 and 1944. Prior to that, from 1920, the proprietor was listed as ‘Mrs Ann MacDonald, Widow’ – almost certainly Isabella’s mother.
Valuation rolls are one of our most widely used records as they list buildings with the name of the occupier or tenant, the owner of the property and sometimes their occupation. They are a useful resource when trying to trace the ownership of a property back through the decades, and they are very helpful for enabling us to flesh out the backstory of a collection like this one.
