Isabella Proudfoot Kerr was born in Camelon, near Falkirk, in 1901 and brought up in Whitburn,West Lothian – one of 5 children.
She married a Dutch merchant seaman, Tuenis Cornelius Van Ess, in 1920. The marriage was short-lived and Isabella soon reverted to her maiden name, eventually getting a divorce. An ambitious businesswoman, Isabella worked as a manageress of a café in Edinburgh and hoped one day to run her own betting agency. She was a practiced gambler and unusually for a woman at this period, an experienced driver.
It was at work that Isabella met Buck Ruxton and they quickly became an established couple. They never married but Isabella (Buck Ruxton called her Belle) was known as Mrs. Ruxton.
Belle and Buck had 3 children; she had also suffered a miscarriage in 1932.
Their relationship was tempestuous, volatile and at times violent.
Isabella was murdered by Buck Ruxton – aged 34.
