On the evidence of the 1881 census, Elizabeth Waddell was born c. 1821 in Torpichen, in what is now West Lothian.

She appears in the 1841 census aged 20 and living at Woodend Farm, Torpichen, with her parents James Waddell and Marion Chalmers, three sisters and two brothers.

Elizabeth married Mungo Chapman the following year.

Her father, under the terms of his 1853 Disposition and Settlement, bequeathed Elizabeth the sum of £300, payable six months from the date of his death, which occurred in 1858; from this fell to be deducted £70, already received by her on the occasion of her marriage.

Elizabeth was widowed when Mungo died on 7^th September 1881. Under the terms of his Trust Disposition and Deed of Settlement, she was entitled to the liferent use of what remained of his heritable and moveable estate, after all just and lawful debts and sickbed and funeral expenses had been paid.

Elizabeth Waddell, widow of Mungo Chapman, died on 24^th November 1902 at one in the afternoon, at Bothwell Park House, Bothwell, which at the time in question was the family residence of her son-in-law, Peter Stuart Brown. Her usual residence was entered as Academy Street, Bathgate. She was stated to be 83 years of age. The cause of death was given as ‘senile decay’, from which she had been suffering for ‘several months’, as certified by W.S. MacPherson, MB & CM. The informant was Thomas Thomson, the deceased’s son-in-law, of 31, Lausanne Road, Peckham, London.

Brothers and Sisters

Elizabeth was the eldest of six known children. The others, who were unmarried and still living at home in 1851, were Alison, born c. 1823; James, born in 1826; John, born 1828; and Jessie, born c. 1834. Jessie was presumably one and the same as Janet, who was aged 7 in 1841. Marion, born c. 1825, is known from the 1841 census but does not reappear in the family home in 1851.