Lavinia Finlay

Lavinia Finlay lived at 7 St Bernard’s Row in 1945, shortly before she died.¹ She was also listed at this address in the 1937 electoral register and in 1938 amongst those there no longer qualified to vote.² However, she may have lived continuously at 7 St Bernard’s Row until 1945. She had previously lived in Dean Street and St Stephen Street.³ She was born Lavinia Erskine on 19 November 1873, at Linlithgow, daughter of William Erskine, gardener, and Isabel Walker.⁴

Lavinia Erskine married John Finlay, a plasterer, on 25 October 1907, at 10 Marchhall Crescent, Newington.⁵ John Finlay enlisted in August 1914 and served as a private in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders until he was killed in action during the battle of the Somme, on 17 August 1916.⁶ He left a widow and three young children. Lavinia Erskine or Finlay died of cancer at 1 Glenlockhart Road, Edinburgh on 12 November 1945.⁷

The eldest child of John Finlay and Lavinia Erskine was Jane, born in Edinburgh on 09 February 1908.⁸ She married George Cossar, a joiner, on 31 December 1928. She was a hotel waitress at the time.⁹ They divorced in 1941, when her address was 7 St Bernard’s Row.¹⁰ In 1945 Jean F. Cossar was listed there in the electoral register, alongside her mother,¹¹ though in November of that year her address was 35 Ferry Road Avenue, Edinburgh.¹²

1. Electoral Register, Edinburgh, 1945; ScotlandsPeople.
2. Electoral Registers 1937 and 1938.
3. Electoral Registers, Edinburgh, 1918-1933.
4. Births (SR) Scotland. Linlithgow, West Lothian. 19 November 1873. ERSKINE, Lavinia. 685/5 189. Ancestry collection ‘Scotland, Select Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950.’ https://ancestry.co.uk: accessed 14 August 2024.
5. Marriages (SR) Scotland. Newington, Edinburgh. 25 October 1907. FINLAY, John and ERSKINE, Lavinia. 685/5 189. https://scotlandspeople.gov.uk: accessed 14 August 2024.
6. War Office. Service Records. Attestation. 27 August 1914. FINLAY, John. (S/2759) WO363. National Archives. Ancestry collection ‘UK, British Army World War I Service Records, 1914-1920.’ https://ancestry.co.uk: accessed 14 August 2024.
7. Deaths (SR) Scotland. Morningside, Edinburgh. 13 November 1945. FINLAY, Lavinia. 685/7 1080. https://scotlandspeople.gov.uk: accessed 14 August 2024.
8. War Office. Pension ledgers and index cards. 27 February 1917. FINLAY, John. (S/2759) Ancestry collection ‘UK, World War I Pension Ledgers and Index Cards, 1914-1923.’ https://ancestry.co.uk: accessed 14 August 2024.
9. Marriages (SR) Scotland. St Giles, Edinburgh. 04 January 1913. COSSAR, George and FINLAY, Jane. 685/4 56. https://scotlandspeople.gov.uk: accessed 14 August 2024.
10. Marriages (RCE) Scotland. Edinburgh. 23 May 1941. COSSAR, Jane Finlay or. 685/ 04 041 59. https://scotlandspeople.gov.uk: accessed 14 August 2024.
11. Electoral Register 1945.
12. Deaths (SR) Scotland. Morningside, Edinburgh. 13 November 1945. FINLAY, Lavinia. 685/7 1080. https://scotlandspeople.gov.uk: accessed 14 August 2024.