Frances Dinning was born on 22^nd January 1859 at three in the morning, at Main Street, ‘Newton Ayr’.

In 1871, Frances was a message girl, aged 12, living at 4, Warroch Street, Anderston, Glasgow, with her mother Frances Newall and brothers and sisters Thomas, aged 18; Margaret, 16; John, 14; and James, 9. Her father, Thomas Dinning, was not at home. Presumably he was away at sea.

At the time of the 1881 census, Frances, aged 22, was resident at 4, Elliot Street, Glasgow, with her mother Frances Newall (widow of Thomas Dinning), elder sister Margaret, aged 26, and younger brother James, aged 19. All three were entered as born in Ayr. Margaret’s occupation is entered as ‘Shopkeeper (Book or Boot?)’, Frances was a dressmaker, and James was an apprentice of some sort. His occupation is hard to read but it may be ‘boilermaker’.

Frances’s future husband John Steel, aged 26 and unmarried, occupied an adjacent single room, and he is described as a ‘lodger’.

At the time of her marriage to John Steele on 31^st October 1883, Frances Dinning was designated as a dressmaker, (spinster), aged 24. The usual residence entered for both was 4, Elliot Street, Glasgow.

Frances Dinning, the widow of John Steele, died on 24^th April 1925 at 2^h 30^m pm, aged sixty-six. At that time, her home was at 3, Caird Drive, Glasgow. She died at the Eye Infirmary, Glasgow. The various causes of death were listed as - orbital cellulitis; panopthalmitis, from which she had been suffering for twenty-five days; septicaemia, one month & terminal; cardiac failure. The informant was A.W. Steele, her son, of 3, Caird Drive, Glasgow. He had been present at the time of death and registered the event on 24^th April, at Glasgow.

Frances was interred in the New Kilpatrick Cemetery, Bearsden.

Brothers and Sisters

Frances had at least one sister, Margaret, who was born c. 1854 and a brother, James.

It is provisonally understood that Margaret, then aged 30, married Archibald Milne in 1885, in Anderston, and was widowed in 1919.

James was born on 22^nd May 1861 at three in the morning, in Main Street, Newton Ayr. The informant was Thomas Dinning, his father. James was the informant on their mother’s death certificate in 1905.