Mary Ritchie was the daughter of a Dundee shoemaker of 22 Barrack Street. After her father died, she used her inheritance to open a drapery business with a partner, Jean Easson. The business was extremely successful and Ritchie retired, a rich woman, in 1827. She then sued her partner, who nevertheless carried on the business for a further ten years. Ritchie went to Leamington Spa to live, where she met and married R Alcock, a wood merchant. The marriage was not a success. Mary Alcock returned to Dundee and sued her husband.