The previous blog post traced the life story of Lundin Mill tailor James Gulland. Now attention turns to his second wife Emma. Born Emma Louisa Trimmer in Barnet Middlesex in 1869, daughter of a blacksmith who died while she was still a child. She was working as a domestic servant when she met James Gulland. They married in 1897 and had a daughter, Louisa May, in 1903. Emma was widowed in 1914 when James died suddenly. The small advert above appeared in The Scotsman newspaper eight days after James death, which occurred on 10 July. Ten days after the 18 July advert appeared, the First World War broke out.
And so, Mrs Gulland had to alter her plans. She kept the business on and ran it herself. So, James Gulland's tailor shop became Mrs Gulland's draper and outfitter (still renting the shop from John Somerville the grocer). At the time, the shop was the most westerly of the row on Leven Road and its gable end appeared as seen in the image below. Openings for cupboards and fireplaces could be seen - waiting over many years for further development. Finally, in 1923, it was Emma Gulland who had plans drawn up for new shops and houses to extend and complete the row of existing shops. Plans were revised a few times over the next few years before being executed in 1926.
The new extension to the block was owned in its entirety by Mrs Gulland. It housed, from east to west, her new draper shop, tea-rooms run by her daughter Louisa and the Commercial Bank of Scotland. All can be seen in the postcard view at the top of this post. The original tailor/draper shop (in the part of the row owned by John Somerville) became the British Linen Bank. Mrs Gulland named the dwelling above her new shop 'Jamesville' after late husband. James' daughter Rose from his first marriage had married George Kilgour, an Australian chemist, in 1918 and settled in Middlesex.
After two decades as a successful entrepreneurial duo, on 12 December 1944, Louisa May Gulland died suddenly at her home Aldersyde, aged just 41. Her mother Emma, now aged 75, continued the long-established businesses (both the draper and the tearoom) for many more years. The adverts below date to the late 1950s, including the one that appeared in the Leven Mail in 1958 to thank all her customers for supporting her 50 years in business, noting that her successors would be Mr and Mrs Menzies. Emma Gulland died on 21 May 1959, aged 90, at Aldersyde. 45 years after the death of her husband and having left a permanent mark on the village where she conducted business over so many decades.