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Isabella Nicoll
1880 - Dundee Infirmary
Isabella was born in Dundee on 26 August 1829. Her only sibling was an older brother named James, born at the end of 1827. Their parents, Ann Grieve and Peter Nicoll, both died when the children were young (Ann in 1834 and Peter just a few years later). Ann is buried in the Howff Cemetery in Dundee.
Consequently Isabella and James grew up living with their grandmother, Agnes Grieve and her two other daughters; and in the 1841 Census they are recorded with her (aged 10 and 12 respectively), at Bucklemaker Wynd, Dundee.
Isabella Nicoll: Research
In the 1851 Census the same household are all recorded again, now specifically at number 101, Bucklemaker Wynd: Agnes Grieve (head of the household); her daughters, Elisa/Elizabeth Grieve (38) and Isabella (Isabel) Grieve (32); plus her grandchildren, James Nicoll (23) and Isabella Nicoll (21), and two more grandchildren (Jas Fairweather and Martha Fairweather). Isabella's occupation is given as 'H L Weaver' (hand-loom weaver). Weaving was a significant industry in Dundee in the mid-1800s and there were a number of mills and factories in the city.
It also appears that multiple households were living at the same property and Alexander Buik (aged 24 and Isabella’s future husband), is listed further down the long list of names recorded as living at 101 Bucklemaker Wynd. The couple were married on 6 April 1855 and from 1856 to 1872 they had eight children (you can read more about the whole family in the ‘Families’ section).
By the time of the 1881 Census the family are living at 20, Watson Street, Dundee, but Isabella’s name and that of her eldest son (also Alexander) do not appear. Instead, Isabella is listed in records as a patient at the Royal Dundee Lunatic Asylum (later to be renamed Dundee Infirmary). She was admitted on 8 June 1880.
According to the records this was her second “attack” (the first was when she was aged 21 and she was treated at the Montrose Asylum). This time she was assessed at home initially (20 Watson Street), where her husband signed the document to sanction her admission - the ‘Petition to the Sheriff to Grant Order for the Reception of a Patient into an Asylum’.
Isabella Nicoll: Text
Two separate medical certificates had to be completed for her admission. Both of these stated that “she is a lunatic.” The accompanying notes state the ‘facts indicating insanity observed’ [were]:
1st certificate: “Incoherent and rambling in her talk. Cannot sleep and inclined to wander about. Her husband informs me she has been in this excited state for about five days.”
2nd certificate: “She is very excited and incoherent: also very changeable in her mood, laughing and singing the one minute and weeping the next. The matron informs me that since admission the patient has been much excited.”
In addition there is a “Certificate of Emergency” stating that “the said person is of unsound mind and a proper Patient to be placed in an asylum”.The summary document, dated 18 June, that confirms Isabella’s admission to the Asylum states her mental state as: “She is suffering from mania”; and her bodily health and condition as: “They are good.”
Isabella Nicoll: About
The ‘Petition’ document includes reference to Isabella’s ‘religious persuasion’ which is recorded as: "Glassite". The 'Glassites' or 'Glasites' were a small Christian church founded in Scotland circa 1730, by the Rev. John Glas, (Minister of the Parish of Tealing, 1719-28), after he was suspended by the Church of Scotland. The first Glasite Church was in Dundee and was also known as the 'Kail Kirk' from the practice of worshippers dining together during the services on Sundays. The Church was just a short distance from where Isabella lived in Bucklemaker Wynd. The building remains today located in the grounds of St Andrews Parish Church and, having been restored, it is now known as Glasite Hall.
Isabella Nicoll: Text
Just 22 days after Isabella had been admitted to the Royal Dundee Lunatic Asylum, on 30 June 1880, her eldest son Alexander, was also admitted to the Asylum. Like his mother this was not his first admission - he had previously been admitted in 1872 for 4 months (aged 16), and in 1875 for 9 months. In 1880, now aged 24, he was listed as single and his profession was recorded as ‘factory worker.’ The Admission Report for Alexander state that he is “…suffering from mania”and accompanying medical certificates record him as being: “…rambling and incoherent in his talk – at times inclined to be violent and dangerous." "He maintains he is dead”. Alexander died on 21 April 1881 whilst still a patient at the Asylum.
Isabella remained in the Asylum for three years and during this time her husband Alexander (senior) died aged 56 (1April 1883). Just two and half months later Isabella was discharged from the Asylum (17 June 1883). She is said to have “recovered”(where the five options on the form were: recovered, relieved, not improved, incurable,and death).
It is assumed she was taken into the home of one of her surviving children, but within two years Isabella had died. On 5 February 1885, aged 55, she was discovered in King William (IV) Dock, in Dundee. Her son, Robert, registered the death a day later, listing her ‘usual’ residence as Victoria Road. The cause of death was initially stated as “Drowning, fell” but there is a second entry in the records and the original record has been amended with the cause of death being revised to “Drowning, suicidal”.
Isabella Nicoll: Text
Isabella’s death was reported in the Dundee Courier and Argus and The Evening Telegraph newspapers (although both newspapers recorded her age, incorrectly, as 53). She is buried in Dundee’s Eastern Cemetery.
Isabella Nicoll: Image
Isabella Nicoll: Text
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