Isabella Nimmo Hart

Isabella Nimmo Hart was born in 1845 in Glasgow. Her parents, Robert Hart and Janet Alice Millar were dissenting members of the Church of Scotland so she and two siblings were not baptised until some years later. Isabella was the third of 7 children, having two sisters. Her elder sister Jane married John Steel in 1866 and it is possible that Isabella corresponded with his brother Thomas in Australia before they married in February 1871 in Glasgow.
Two of Isabella's younger brothers went to Bengal as tea planters so her move to Australia must have been an exciting prospect. She seems to have thrived on it, having a large family of 9 children, although she lost her first daughter at age 5 in 1880. Her older sister only had one son and the younger one adopted two children.
Unfortunately for Isabella, her husband died suddenly in 1893, at a time of economic crisis in Melbourne, and her youngest son being only 3 years old. She was the sole executor of the estate and a large proportion of the assets were unpaid bills from patients. Her eldest son, William, was studying medicine in Glasgow, having graduated BA from the University of Melbourne.
I imagine she was well supported at this time by Jane and John Steel in Glasgow and she in turn cared for their nephew John Steel jnr who died at the Steel holiday home at Portarlington in 1896 from TB. He had been managing the family company in Calcutta after his uncle Octavius died in 1893. Around this time, the third son, David, was sent there to learn the tea trade and he became a tea merchant in Melbourne, initially with his younger brother Octavius. Another son, Donald went to Glasgow to study medicine, then on to India, Western Australia and North Qld before he died suddenly in 1911. Tyke and Jack then went farming.
Her fourth son, Thomas, was a soldier and went to Gallipoli as one of the leaders, then on to France and England. During the Great War, she also had William serving in the British Navy and Jack in the army. Her younger daughter Alice had married in 1907 and lived in Scotland. Her second son Robert lived with her until he died in 1929. Isabella lived until her 90th year, dying in Preston in 1935.