ISABELLA ALEXANDER (1842-1914)
Millinery and dressmaking were an important and familiar business opportunities for urban women, especially if they could own their own shop. Isabella Alexander ran her own millinery business in Aberdeen for at least twenty-one years often with more than one shop and gradually moving west as the fashionable sorts gradually populated the west end of Aberdeen
She was born in Ellon as Isabella Johnstone in about 1842, and her younger sister was born 5 years later, and they were joined by a brother three years later. Her father was a Messenger at Arms in Aberdeen, a significant role as a sheriffs officer. No occupation is recorded for her mother. By 1851 the family was living at 29 Broad Street in Aberdeen, where we still find them in 1861, a substantial home of six rooms.
Isabella Johnstone, dressmaker, first appears in the Aberdeen Directories in 1854, based in Kingsland Place. This may or may not have been the same person, and Isabella was still listed as resident at the family home in Broad Street where she is recorded in the census until 1861. She appears to have married a Mr Alexander sometime in the 1760s but, no traced of a husband can be found though in the 1881 census she was recorded as a widow. By 1871 she was back at the family home, now at 3 Joppa Court, Broad Street, as Isabella Alexander. Her father had died, and the household was headed by her sixty-seven year old mother and included her sister and brother. Her brother became a grocer and sister Helen was a shop girl in 1871. The next couple of years are confusing because she may also have taken up work as a provision merchant/grocer, first at Skene Street, which could have been a marital home, and then in North Street, but in 1871 clearly living back in the family home off Broad Street.
Then in 1874-75 she began to appear consistently in the Aberdeen Directory as Isabella Alexander, milliner. She occupied premises at 29 Broad Street, shared by a painter and glaziers’ firm and a furnishing tailor. This was the central part of town with shops, residences and businesses, close to the University and the Castlegate, and her family home around the corner. By 1878 she had moved to 84 Broad Street and the 1881 census shows her sharing with her sister Helen, as housekeeper. Five years later, in 1882, she moved to a shop at 270 Union Street, living separately in Grove Street then at 28 Summer Street. This marked a significant shift and indicates that the business was doing well as she was moving west into the newer and more fashionable part of the town.
For a couple of years, she kept the Union Street shop but also worked from home, then took premises next door for the shop and ultimately kept both the Union Street and Summer Street shops. These premises and home are literally adjacent to each other. However, in c.1887, she made a significant move into a fashionable house in St Swithin Street, still sharing with her sister. This was new housing built for the respectable middle classes and was still virtually countryside. Thus, she seemed to have signed up to the suburban dream and had the wealth to do so. It is also the street where photographer George Washington Wilson lived and worked. Her shop remained at 270 Union Street but two years later she moved it further west to 32 Holborn Street, and then to 395 Union Street in 1893, both closer to her own residence and in the more fashionable end of town. However, she appears to have given up business by in 1895, unless working from home, and she no longer appeared in the directory in 1896.
She was by now in her fifties, was well enough off to have bought the St Swithin Street house and kept her single sister with her. She was a municipal voter in 1896/97 but by 1901 was living in rural Glenmuick with her sister. Thus, over twenty years she ran a business that grew so that she could take on two larger premises separate from her living accommodation and situated in a more fashionable area. In the 1870s the area she lived in had been countryside, and in 1912, it was still only a few minutes’ walk from open country and was a comfortable single family dwelling. She died there in 1914.
Entry written by Deborah Simonton.
She was born in Ellon as Isabella Johnstone in about 1842, and her younger sister was born 5 years later, and they were joined by a brother three years later. Her father was a Messenger at Arms in Aberdeen, a significant role as a sheriffs officer. No occupation is recorded for her mother. By 1851 the family was living at 29 Broad Street in Aberdeen, where we still find them in 1861, a substantial home of six rooms.
Isabella Johnstone, dressmaker, first appears in the Aberdeen Directories in 1854, based in Kingsland Place. This may or may not have been the same person, and Isabella was still listed as resident at the family home in Broad Street where she is recorded in the census until 1861. She appears to have married a Mr Alexander sometime in the 1760s but, no traced of a husband can be found though in the 1881 census she was recorded as a widow. By 1871 she was back at the family home, now at 3 Joppa Court, Broad Street, as Isabella Alexander. Her father had died, and the household was headed by her sixty-seven year old mother and included her sister and brother. Her brother became a grocer and sister Helen was a shop girl in 1871. The next couple of years are confusing because she may also have taken up work as a provision merchant/grocer, first at Skene Street, which could have been a marital home, and then in North Street, but in 1871 clearly living back in the family home off Broad Street.
Then in 1874-75 she began to appear consistently in the Aberdeen Directory as Isabella Alexander, milliner. She occupied premises at 29 Broad Street, shared by a painter and glaziers’ firm and a furnishing tailor. This was the central part of town with shops, residences and businesses, close to the University and the Castlegate, and her family home around the corner. By 1878 she had moved to 84 Broad Street and the 1881 census shows her sharing with her sister Helen, as housekeeper. Five years later, in 1882, she moved to a shop at 270 Union Street, living separately in Grove Street then at 28 Summer Street. This marked a significant shift and indicates that the business was doing well as she was moving west into the newer and more fashionable part of the town.
For a couple of years, she kept the Union Street shop but also worked from home, then took premises next door for the shop and ultimately kept both the Union Street and Summer Street shops. These premises and home are literally adjacent to each other. However, in c.1887, she made a significant move into a fashionable house in St Swithin Street, still sharing with her sister. This was new housing built for the respectable middle classes and was still virtually countryside. Thus, she seemed to have signed up to the suburban dream and had the wealth to do so. It is also the street where photographer George Washington Wilson lived and worked. Her shop remained at 270 Union Street but two years later she moved it further west to 32 Holborn Street, and then to 395 Union Street in 1893, both closer to her own residence and in the more fashionable end of town. However, she appears to have given up business by in 1895, unless working from home, and she no longer appeared in the directory in 1896.
She was by now in her fifties, was well enough off to have bought the St Swithin Street house and kept her single sister with her. She was a municipal voter in 1896/97 but by 1901 was living in rural Glenmuick with her sister. Thus, over twenty years she ran a business that grew so that she could take on two larger premises separate from her living accommodation and situated in a more fashionable area. In the 1870s the area she lived in had been countryside, and in 1912, it was still only a few minutes’ walk from open country and was a comfortable single family dwelling. She died there in 1914.
Entry written by Deborah Simonton.
