Isabel Cowe

E Brown Iain.

Description

Isabel Cowe was the owner of The St Abb's Haven boarding house from 1914 to 1931. A native of St Abb's and of fishing folk, she was a popular figure in the village. Throughout her life, Miss Cowe fought against the injustice of the Parish Council on a number of issues which she believed were detrimental to the community, earning herself the title 'The Provost of St Abb's' from those who came to know her and respect her. Isabel Cowe was no ordinary woman, devoting her life to serving others through charitable work for organisations such as the RNLI and the Children's League of Pity. It was through her tireless devotion to the RNLI and the St Abb's lifeboat crew that she earned one of her greatest accolades when awarded with the RNLI's Golden Brooch. As an influential female business owner, in a time before women were granted the vote, Miss Cowe gravitated towards the Suffrage Movement, becoming a member of the Women's Freedom League. In October 1912, she was to help organise and participate in the gruelling 400-mile Scottish Suffrage March from Edinburgh to London, which was a precursor for the Great Pilgrimage of 1913. On her death a sundial was erected in her memory in the grounds of The Haven. The sundial, which still stands to this day, was funded by over 200 subscriptions from the length and breadth of the country by the many people who had come to know and respect this great woman and pioneer.

Informations

• Publié par: Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd
• Date de parution: 28 mai 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781528987592
• Langue: English

Extrait

I sabel C owe: S hore G ull and S uffragist
T he P rovost of S t A bbs
Iain. E. Brown
Austin Macauley Publishers
2021-05-28
Isabel Cowe: Shore Gull and Suffragist About the Author Dedication Copyright Information © Acknowledgement Coldingham Shore Birth (Under Row) Education Family Tragedy Black Friday (Disaster Day) Census 1881 The Usher Family – The Birth of St Abbs The Bicycle – New Women of the 1890s Census 1891 Death of Parents The Anchorage Miss Jane Hay Women’s Freedom League (WFL) The Alfred Erlandsen Loss of Another Brother St Abbs’ Lifeboat – The Helen Smitton Four Tonnes of Railway Sleepers S.S. Glanmire RNLIs – Golden Brooch Award Charitable Organisations The Fairy Godmother and the Provost of St Abbs Votes for Women – Edinburgh to London March Berwick-upon-Tweed The Bluebell Inn – Belford Morpeth Newcastle Trafalgar Square, London The Petition – H.H. Asquith Westminster Abbey – Sunday Morning Service Silver Medal Egham to Land’s End Throughout the Country A Deputation of Working Women – January 1913 The Great Pilgrimage – 1913 Refusing to Pay Her Parish Rates Death of Jane Hay Adoptees of Jane Hay The Haven Services Offered at The Haven Grace – Every Day for 34 Years H.M.S. Pathfinder The First World War and Women’s Suffrage New Year’s Celebration at The Haven Marjory Kennedy Fraser Miss Cowe – Death The Funeral Easter Service – Unveiling of the Sundial Memorial The Communion Table Miss Isabel Cowe – Pioneer Coldingham Priory Graveyard
About the Author
Born in 1977, the author spent the first few years of his life living in his father’s ancestral village, St Abbs, Berwickshire, Scotland. The family then moved to Shetland where he spent the majority of his childhood, before settling in Arbroath for the remainder of his teenage years. He now lives and works in Dundee with his wife and three young children.
Dedication
This book is dedicated to the life of Dave Gibson (1950–2017), life-long socialist, trade unionist and anti-racist activist, who passed away before his research on our ancestor, Isabel Cowe, came to fruition.
Copyright Information ©
Iain. E. Brown (2021)
The right of Iain. E. Brown to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.
Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.
ISBN 9781528987585 (Paperback)
ISBN 9781528987592 (ePub e-book)
www.austinmacauley.com
First Published (2021)
Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd
25 Canada Square
Canary Wharf
London
E14 5LQ
Acknowledgement
I would like to thank Geoff Gibson, Noreen Thompson (Gibson), Zoe Lovell, Jo Ladd, Kate Burland-Gibson, Effie Aitchison, Mum and Dad, Bobby Kerr at the Luckenbooth (Coldingham), wife Debbie Brown and grandparents Jim and June Nicolson (née Gibson), without whom none of this would have been possible.
Coldingham Shore
The small fishing village of St Abbs is located 20 miles south of Dunbar on the east coast of Scotland, and was originally named Coldingham Shore.
The Shore fishermen were initially housed at Fisher Brae in Coldingham, with a fair sized community also present at Northfield. However, in the mid-18 th century that all changed when the first house was built in the village, on the site of the present Rock House.
In the latter part of the 18 th century, five houses were constructed in a row, at what was to become the Under Row (Harbour terrace). By the 1830s, the Under Row had expanded considerably, with houses being built by fishing families such as the Raes, Wilsons, Cormacks and the Thorburns.
The fisher folk of Coldingham Shore have always used a special term of endearment for one another, which continues to this day. The term ‘Shore Gull’ is used to identify anyone born or brought up in the village.