Post Cards – Isabella Brownlees collection – Northumberland & Scotland
Collecting post cards was a popular hobby in early-twentieth-century England. My grandmother Isabella Allan Brownlees (1874-1958), and her husband Donald Cameron (1878-1941) both had post card albums that they brought to Canada when they emigrated in 1908 and 1905, respectively. The greatest number of cards are from 1903-1909 but some are from later days, through to the 1930s. Some of the cards which contained useful biographical information have been included in the other sections of this website but I decided to post the whole collection here in one place, as well.
Pictures on the cards include many photos of Northumberland and Durham, plus Edinburgh, other parts of Scotland and the border areas where my grandparents and many of their friends and relatives lived. Places that recur are Kelso and Coldstream in Roxburghshire, Cornhill-on-Tweed, Wark-on-Tweed, Berwick-on-Tweed, and Newcastle-on-Tyne in Northumberland.
There are about 270 cards in this collection but I have not yet scanned them all and will be adding them gradually.
Map from a tourist brochure brought back to Canada by Isabella (Brownlees) Cameron in 1934. Grandma and many of her relatives lived in villages on this map – Wark, Coldstream, Kelso, Crookham, Stichill. etc.
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NO DATE – probably late 1920s or early 1930s
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1904 Kelso – October 13
Kelso Abbey
October 13, 1904, Kelso. Dear Bella, Thanks for P.C. [post card] So glad to hear your grandfather is keeping better. We have been very busy lately& expecting more company on Saturday, So that is the way they keep us going, not much chance of getting down for a while yet but will write. Looking to ?? lovely ? Both well. Hoping you are all likewise. Kind love from Bessie.==========================================
1904 Coldstream/Cornhill
Post-mark: Dec 29, 1904 6:30 pm, Coldstream. To: Master J. Melrose, c/o Miss Allan, Branxton Buildings, Cornhill-on-Tweed. “I expect to be across on Saturday. Hope you are enjoying yourself and keeping out of mischief. G.M.” G.M. will be George Melrose, John Melrose’s older brother.
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1904 Edinburgh
Enter a caption
1904 – Alnwick – from Ina Bruce to Isabella Brownlee.
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1906 Edinburgh
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1906 Wark/Cornhill
Branxton Village, Northumberland. (No indication on the back of who took the photo.)“Now Bella don’t you think this good of the old village. So Sorry I did not see you when you were down. With kindest love from M. Hardy”. Postmarked Cornhill-on-Tweed October 3, 1906. Addressed to “MIss Brownlee, Tweed Bank, Kelso.
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1906 Cornhill-on-Tweed
Photo view of Market Place, Coldstream.
To Miss Brownlee, Tweed Bank, Kelso, postmarked May 3, 1906, Cornhill-on-Tweed. “Dear Bella, I wonder if you have got any like this. How did you get home last fridaynight. You never got down here. Love from J.C. or I. C.
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NO DATE – nothing on back.
Carham Parish Church, St. Cuthbert’s.
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NO DATE – probably 1900-1908
This card was in Grandma’s album but had not been mailed. so there is no date – photo probably taken 1900-1908). There is no identifying info on it but it may have been of one of the villages where the Allans lived or nearby. The flock of sheep being moved along the street was probably a common sight as many people, such as her grandfather Peter Allan (1823-1905) raised sheep.
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1903 Edinburgh
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1906 Buffalo, New York
Post card Leonard Short (1868-1945) sent to his cousin Miss Sarah Allan, Branxton Buildings, Cornhill-on-Tweed, England with the laconic note, “Arrive Safe Len”. The card is postmarked at Buffalo, N.Y. , 4pm Aug 22, 1906 and pictures the Historical Society Building in Buffalo. [Card No.1361, W.G. MacFarlane, Publisher, Buffalo, N.Y.] Len was another of the family that decided to emigrate early in the twentieth century. He settled in Buffalo, dying there in 1945.Address side of card sent by Leonard Short (1868-1945) to his cousin, Sarah Allan. Post mark: Buffalo, N.Y. Aug 22 4pm, 1906.
Photo post card of Branxton School taken by Geo. W. Gibson, Photographer, Coldstream. Mailed in 1906 so probably taken around that time.To Miss Brownlee, Tweed Bank, Kelso. Postmarked Cornhill on Tweed Oct 29, 1906. “Dear Bella, received your paper all right, hoping that you are well and Bessie. John is busy cleaning out the ? pond and we are all well and Jimmie is getting on fine.”
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1908 Allan Family lived in this farmhouse
1909 Kelso
Kerchesters, near Kelso, Roxburghshire.Enter a caption
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Following are scans from July 29, 2020:
Cards are addressed to Miss B. (Isabella) Brownlee(s), Branxton Buildings, Cornhill-on-Tweed:
1903
Craigside now belongs to the National Trust and is one of the most visited properties in northern England. Link to a wikipedia article about it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cragside
“With best wishes for a Happy Christmas” from M.J.S. (Bella Brownlees’ Cousin Mary Jane Short, posted December 24, 1903, at Pauperhaugh, Rothbury parish, Northumberland )
1904
“With best wishes for a very Happy Christmas. M.J.S. ” This card is from Mary Jane Short (1871-1926), a first cousin of Isabella Brownlee’s mother, Margaret Allan (1853-1897). Mary Jane worked as a housekeeper for her uncle George Short (abt 1835-1925) at Pauperhaugh, Northumberland, in the registration district of Rothbury. George Short worked as an estate baliff.
