Archaeological diaries of Isabel Abraham

Notebooks compiled by Isabel Abraham, a school girl at The Mount School in York, possibly as part of a school project.

Begun 13 October 1900 and ending 17 July 1902, these archaeological diaries record visits to sites of historical interest in and around York but also other areas in Yorkshire, the North East of England and Isabel's home county of Cheshire. Isabel refers to lectures on the subject of historical architectural styles given at school and includes detailed notes which she illustrates with drawings and sketches. Examples of these various styles found in buildings and locations visited are identified and often illustrated with photographs, her own sketches and pictures probably taken from guide books of the time.

The diaries record visits made as part of school outings, mainly to sites in and around York but she also includes accounts of her visits made, to locations such as Newcastle, Durham and Chester, during school holidays. In some places in the notebooks brief annotations have been made in pencil which could possibly comments by a teacher assessing the project.

These diaries provide a very personal record of her observations of her architectural environment and display a real sense of enthusiasm for her subject. The descriptions of places and buildings as they were at the beginning of the 20th century are of historical interest as are the contemporary photographic images which show city views which are perhaps now lost.

Two volumes have covers decorated with calligraphic lettering and the white rose of Yorkshire. All three volumes have an alphabetical index at the back.

Isabel Abraham (1886-1964) was the daughter of Thomas Fell Abraham, a pharmaceutical chemist and his first wife, Margaret Sarah Brown. The family were Quakers, Isabel's father being a direct descendant of the early English Quaker, Margaret Fell. Isabel's mother died in 1889 leaving five small children of which Isabel was the second youngest. She had two older bothers, John Fell and Edward Mitford and two sisters, Mildred and Frances Mary. In1893 her father remarried to Catherine Frances Williams and by 1900 the family was living in the village of Oxton, near Birkenhead. Isabel was educated at The Mount School, York, and the University of Liverpool, 1905-1908. Isabel's headmistress at The Mount School was Miss Lucy Harrison who was well known for encouraging extra curricular activities and took an active interest in school societies such as the newly formed Archaeological Society and produced her own Archaeological Diaries which were possibly the model for Isabel's own work.
As one of the earliest women students at the recently founded University of Liverpool Isabel took a keen interest in student politics and was elected to the office of Lady President of the Guild of Undergraduates 1906-1907. Along with her cousin, Dorothy Foster Abraham (1886-1976), she took an active part in the cause of women's suffrage in the Liverpool area and was a founding member of the University Student Suffrage Organisation. After graduating, in 1908, with an honours degree in History Isabel took up a teaching post at Wellington High School. In 1915 she married William McGregor Ross (1876-1940), an engineer and Director of Public Works in the East Africa Protectorate. The couple spent the next seven years, until her husband's retirement, living in Kenya where their two sons, Hugh and Peter, were born. In Kenya Isabel continued to be active in women's issues and was involved in the East Africa Women's League.
In 1934, Isabel and her husband went to live in Swarthmoor Hall in Cumbria, the home of her ancestor, Margaret Fell, during the seventeenth century. Her brother Edward had earlier bought the house and let it to Isabel and William for five years and during their time there they were both active in the local Quaker community. The house was eventually sold in 1954 to the Society of Friends.
In 1949 Isabel published a biography of Margaret Fell entitled ' Margaret Fell: Mother of Quakerism' London: Longmans, Green and Co having spent time in research at Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre in Birmingham. She also wrote the introduction to an article on the Atlantic community of the early Friends in the Journal of the Friends Historical Journal 1952.

Sources: For Advancement of Learning : The University of Liverpool 1881-1981 / by Thomas Kelly: Liverpool University Press, 1981.
http://www.mundus.ac.uk/ (accessed 13 June 2012)
Information supplied by the University of Liverpool Archivist
http://hhs.sagepub.com/content/22/2/22.full.pdf+html (accessed 13 June 2012)

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