Thanks Dawn, I've already been warned of the dangers. The tree I'm using most was built by my niece's husband and he's quite a conscientious bloke, although more interested, and so more conscientious, about his own side.... I take your point though, and will be doing some confirmation
The other possible lead, following from the Scottish hint, is a woman called Mary Dolores Bisset (born 1898) who had a sister Isabella Bisset. Presumably somewhere in their family is a Spanish connection. From the 1891 Scottish census, her parents were Alexander and Margaret. She's mentioned as a part of a private tree that includes McElhinney, which name occurs in the immediate family of my sister's husband - so perhaps Lilyan had heard a story from one of *his* family and was simply pointing out the similarity in names. Anyway, I'm going to check out that side next
