National Records of Scotland

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Dame Isobel Baillie (1895-1983)

Dame Isobel Baillie (1895-1983)

Singer

Isobel Baillie’s family moved to Manchester when she was a girl. She studied singing and started her musical career there. She married Henry Leonard Wrigley on 31 December 1917. She first performed with the Halle Orchestra in 1921 as a soprano, took part in the first broadcast of Handel’s Messiah and, following her London debut in 1923, worked with Elgar, Toscanini and Vaughan Williams. She was noted for her oratorio singing and later taught music in London, Manchester and the United States. Isobel Baillie was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1951 and Dame Commander (DBE) in 1978. She died in Manchester on 24 September 1983.

Birth in 1895

Isabella Baillie was born on 9 March 1895, the daughter of Martin Pott Baillie and Isabella Hetherington Douglas. The entry in the statutory register for the parish of Wilton in the county of Roxburghshire gives her father’s occupation as baker and confectioner and her place of birth as 2 Princes Street, Wilton.

Birth entry for Isobel Baillie

Birth entry for Isobel Baillie (31 KB jpeg)
National Records of Scotland, 1895/810/30