Biography

Isabella was the fourth child of Jessie Ireland and Alexander McLaren Brown. She was born on 27 December 1871 and named after her grandmother Isabella Fairbairn Ireland.

In 1879 she was enrolled at the Albany Street School, attending for 83 out of 101 days and passing Standard I. Her teacher was Miss Gillies. She does not seem to have been enrolled there for 1880, but in 1881 she attended 157 out of 210 days, failing to pass Standard III because she was absent from the reading test. She may have stayed home because of illness or to help her mother with the growing family. Although there is no record, Isabella probably left school in 1882.

She died suddenly of epilepsy at the age of fifteen on 27 May 1885, the day her youngest sister Nellie was born. She was buried in Dunedin Northern Cemetery with her mother, who died the following year. The informant was her father, Alexander McLaren Brown, one of the last times his name can be seen on a document.

Others buried here: Isabella’s mother Jessie Brown.