I was made redundant from my main job in July but I have been lucky enough to have not one but two of my ex-employers take me on in temporary part-time roles while I looked for a new role and started forming a portfolio career for freelance work. (UPDATE: I’m delighted to say that I…
‘Articles to be left in the house’, the 1801 roup Another manuscript, also in the Library of Scotland, lists items that were to be left in the house after Lady Alva’s death. These were described as Lady Alva’s property and some of them went on to be auctioned in May 1801. It is interesting to…
Portraits The Alvas displayed their most important family portraits in their dining room. Most were recent – from the previous or present generations – but there was also an ‘old family’ portrait in a white frame and ‘Three old family portraits of the Marr family white frames’.[1] These must have been gifts from Lord Alva…
Special inventories were taken for linen, coins and jewels, pamphlets, and pictures and prints found at Drumsheugh House after Lady Alva’s death in 1797. These were designed to resolve inheritance queries raised by her step-daughter-in-law Isabella Erskine. Linen The linen inventory is particularly interesting since it includes the marks the family used to identify their…
