Paula, the Copelands' medical daughter, was born according to her gravestone and her sister Fanny's memoirs in Dublin in Ireland. She moved with the family to Dun Echt in Aberdeen-shire and then to Edinburgh, living first in the astronomer's house at 15 Royal Terrace and then at Blackford Hill Observatory.
She was educated at St George's school for Girls in Edinburgh and is recorded on a plaque there. She studied to become a doctor and took on a number of different posts in places as diverse Leith, London, Manchester and the Orkney Isles. She is recorded in the letters to Fred Holloway as tending to her father on more than one occasion.
When she tragically died at the age of just 42 on June 15th 1918 in the Royal Asylum, Edinburgh she was resident with her mopther and sister Agnes at 153 Colinton Road, Edinburgh - where the family moved after her father Ralph's death. She is recorded as dying of "Acute Mania (8 months)". According to Fanny's memoirs this was due to encephalitis which was an after effect of the flu. She seemed to recover but then suffered a relapse and died. She is buried with other family members in Morningside Cemetery, Edinburgh in grave number 442. Note - the date of death on the gravestone is given as June 12th.
Links to Copeland Family Members