Ladies Mourning Dress

This mourning outfit dates from the turn of the twentieth century and was lovingly passed down from mother to daughter over four generations. The earliest wearer is believed to be Mrs Elizabeth Taylor (née Macpherson) who was widowed in 1912. Her husband James Taylor was a crofter and farmed at Buldoo in Reay, Caithness. The outfit represents a time when the approach to death, funerals and widowhood were vastly different from attitudes today.