Jane Brown

Mrs Jane Brown, widow of Abram Brown, of Leith, was resident at No. 8 for a decade between 1853 and 1862.¹ She was born at Lethnot, Angus on 04 April 1805, daughter of James Hunter, a farmer, and Elizabeth Paterson.² She married Abram Brown, a tobacconist in Kirkgate, Leith, in February 1835.³ He died on 31 January 1844⁴ and was buried at Peebles on 05 February.⁵ Jane Hunter or Brown was living at Kirkgate, Leith at the time of the 1851 census,⁶ before moving to No. 8 in 1853. She was described as a landed proprietor in 1851⁷ and in the 1861 census, when she was at No. 8 Malta Terrace, a house proprietor.⁸ After the marriage of her elder daughter in 1862, she moved to Brechin, Angus to live with her daughter and son-in-law. She died there on 26 April 1864.⁹

Jane Hunter and Abram Brown had two daughters, who were both recorded living at No. 8 in 1861.¹⁰ The elder, Helen Neilson Brown, was born at Leith on 22 February 1836.¹¹ She married at No. 8 on 25 June 1862, William Hammond, a doctor then practising in Brechin.¹² About 1870, the Hammond family moved to Edinburgh. William Hammond died of typhus in April 1875, a month after his appointment by the City Parochial Board as medical officer for the north-west district of Edinburgh.¹³ Helen Neilson Brown or Hammond died on 05 December 1895, in Edinburgh.¹⁴

The younger daughter of Jane Hunter and Abram Brown was Jane Hunter Brown, born 31 December 1839.¹⁵ She died at the Deaconess Hospital, Edinburgh on 21 April 1906.¹⁶ She was unmarried and lived on private means.¹⁷

Agnes Hunter, a sister of Mrs Jane Brown, was also recorded at No. 8 in the 1861 census.¹⁸ She was born in Aberdeenshire about 1810. The 1881 census records that she was deaf and dumb¹⁹ Census records from 1841 to 1891 show that she lived with one or other of her siblings most of her adult life, including at No. 8 Malta Terrace in 1861, and that she had a private income. She died at 18 Morningside Drive, Edinburgh on 19 January 1896.²⁰

1. PO Directories 1853-54 to 1862-63.
2. Baptisms (OPR) Scotland. Lethnot and Navar, Angus. 04 April 1805. HUNTER, Jean. 300/ 10/ 119. https://scotlandspeople.gov.uk: accessed 22 July 2014.
3. Marriages index (OPR) Scotland. Leith South, Midlothian. BROWN, Abram and HUNTER, Jane. 692/2 230/ 260. https://scotlandspeople.gov.uk: accessed 15 October 2023.
4. Monumental inscriptions. Scotland. St Andrew’s, Peebles. 31 January 1844. BROWN, Abraham. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/144016326/abraham-brown: accessed 15 October 2023.
5. Burials (OPR) Scotland. Peebles, Peebleshire. 05 February 1844. BROWN, Abram. 768/ 60/ 722. https://scotlandspeople.gov.uk: accessed 15 October 2023.
6. Census records. Scotland. Leith South, Midlothian. 30 March 1851. BROWN, Jane (Head). 692/2 21/ 3. Ancestry collection ‘1851 Scotland Census.’ https://ancestry.co.uk: accessed 15 October 2023.
7. Ibid.
8. Census records. Scotland. St Bernard, Edinburgh. 07 April 1861. BROWN, Jane (Head). 685/1 85/ 9. Ancestry collection ‘1861 Scotland Census.’ https://ancestry.co.uk: accessed 15 October 2023.
9. Deaths (CR). Scotland. Brechin, Angus. 26 April 1864. BROWN, Jane. 275/ 72. https://scotlandspeople.gov.uk: accessed 13 December 2020.
10. Census records. Op. cit.
11. Baptisms index (OPR) Scotland. Leith South, Midlothian. 22 April 1836. BROWN, Helen Neilson. 692/2 190/ 172. https://scotlandspeople.gov.uk: accessed 16 October 2023.
12. Marriage announcements. Dundee Courier. 27 June 1862. HAMMOND, William and BROWN, Helen Neilson. p. 4, col. 7. https://britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk accessed 16 October 2023.
13. Obituaries. The Scotsman. 29 April 1875. ‘The Late Dr William Hammond.’ p. 4, col. 5. https://britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk accessed 16 October 2023.
14. Probate records. Scotland. Edinburgh. Confirmation. 03 July 1897. BROWN or HAMMOND, Helen Neilson. Ancestry collection ‘Scotland, National Probate Index (Calendar of Confirmations and Inventories), 1876-1936.’ https://ancestry.co.uk: accessed 16 October 2023.
15. Baptisms (OPR) Scotland. Leith South, Midlothian. 05 February 1840. BROWN, Jane Hunter. 692/2 190/ 264. https://scotlandspeople.gov.uk: accessed 16 October 2023.
16. Probate records. Scotland. Edinburgh. Confirmation. 03 July 1906. BROWN, Jane Hunter. Ancestry collection ‘Scotland, National Probate Index (Calendar of Confirmations and Inventories), 1876-1936.’ https://ancestry.co.uk: accessed 16 October 2023.
17. Census records. Scotland. Newington, Edinburgh. 31 March 1901. BROWN, Jane H. 685/5 127/ 2. Ancestry collection ‘1901 Scotland Census.’ https://ancestry.co.uk: accessed 16 October 2023.
18. Census records. Scotland. St Bernard, Edinburgh. 07 April 1861. BROWN, Jane (Head). 685/1 85/ 9. Ancestry collection ‘1861 Scotland Census.’ https://ancestry.co.uk: accessed 15 October 2023.
19. .Census records. Scotland. St Andrew, Edinburgh. 03 April 1881. HUNTER, Agnes. 685/2 69/ 14. Ancestry collection ‘1881 Scotland Census.’ https://ancestry.co.uk: accessed 16 October 2023.
20. Deaths (SR) Scotland. Newington, Edinburgh. 20 January 1896. HUNTER, Agnes. 685/5 60. https://scotlandspeople.gov.uk: accessed 16 October 2023.