Lunchtime Talk: Aberdeen female orphan asylum: The daughters of Mary Emslie

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Lithograph of Aberdeen Female Orphan Asylum by Keith Gibb - now Harlaw Academy

Talk by Dr Ashleigh Black, Independent Researcher working in Archives & Records Management  

In 1841 Mary Elmslie, an affluent childless widow, opened the doors of the newly constructed 19 Albyn Place, officially known as: the Aberdeen Female Orphan Asylum. The institution offered another life far from the often squalid and insanitary Workhouses; providing shelter and education to destitute girls born within St Nicholas and its surrounding parishes between the ages of 4 and 8 years old. Join Dr Ashleigh Black to find out more about the lives of the girls fostered within this fascinating institution.