Miss Campbell

Lampshade maker

Miss Elvina Jane Gillies Campbell (1876–1959) was an 'electrical lampshade-maker'. Her parents, John Campbell (1829–1900) a West India merchant turned commission agent, and Eliza Jane Leslie (1849–1929), came from prosperous textile-manufacturing families. The Campbells lived at various fashionable West End addresses, before retiring to Ayr. Once widowed in 1900, however, Mrs Campbell, Elvina and her sister economised by moving to a central Glasgow tenement flat. 1 To alleviate their reduced circumstances, Mrs Campbell advertised 'babies' cots and baskets trimmed' and one daughter became a lady's companion. In 1906, Elvina also began making lampshades at 17 Newton Street, Charing Cross. She was still advertising in the 1930s, and lived with her unmarried sister until her death. 2

Notes:

1: Birth, death, will and census information: www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk [accessed 2 and 3 October 2012]; Glasgow Post Office directories, 1907–8, p. 1184.

2: Glasgow Post Office Directory, 1906–7, p. 195; death and census information, www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk [accessed 2 and 3 October 2012]; 'Miss Campbell, Lamp Shades', Section 28, Glasgow, p. 37, Telephone Directory, vol. 5, Scotland, Jan. 1935, British Phone Books 1880–1984 online database, www.ancestry.co.uk [accessed 19 October 2012].

'Mackintosh Architecture' led by The Hunterian, University of Glasgow, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council; with additional support from The Monument Trust, The Pilgrim Trust, and the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art; and collaborative input from Historic Scotland and the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland.