Early women doctors in Orkney

We know much about Beatrice Garvie, who was doctor on North Ronaldsay in the 1930’s and 40's. See In Search of Beatrice Garvie to find out more. But did you know there were at least fifty women doctors in Orkney in the period up to 1948?

We currently have a small display of items we hold relating to just a few of these remarkable women, and this blog accompanies it. 

"Beatrice Garvie" sporting her reproduction jumper

The Garvie sweater and tammie have been recreated by Lesley Booth, a heritage knitwear specialist. Lesley first saw the Fair Isle sweater worn by Dr Garvie, in the photograph at the ‘Glean’ exhibition of Scottish Women Photographers (2022-3). Her interest in it led to extensive research into the colour ways and styles of Fair Isle during the 1920s and ‘30s.

We love that cats appear in so many of the Garvie photographs, so added our own version for the display! 

Dr Mabel Hector outside Beatrice Garvie's bungalow, with the cat. D156

Anne Venters neé Horne 1875-1930

Anne qualified as a doctor in 1902. She worked as Medical Officer on Eday from 1903 to 1906 and returned following her marriage to Charles Fraser Horne. She lived the rest of her life on the island, bringing up her children and being quietly involved in the community. She provided medical cover on and off throughout, including a period during the war when she again worked as the medical officer. Her sister was the well-known Dr Isabel Venters and provided locum cover for Anne during her early years in Eday. We know much of this from the Parish Council records for Eday (CO6/3).

Excerpt from CO6/3/3 Parish council minutes for Eday

Jane Jessie Muir neé Bond 1912-2011

Jessie (as she was known) was born and brought up in Stenness and attended Stromness Academy. She graduated in 1940 with a medical degree from Edinburgh University (overlapping with Rina Marwick) and was locum in Dounby in 1940 and 1941. She was called up to the Royal Army Medical Corps in 1942 and was ultimately stationed in India. She married (Colonel) Reginald Bond in 1945, and his Army career took then to many parts of the world. After a break of 12 years while bringing up four children, she went back to working as a doctor - sometimes in far flung places such as Papua New Guinea. They finally retired to Orkney and Jessie lived to the age of 98. 

Jessie Muir

Robina Marwick neé Leslie 1914-1991

Robina Marwick was born in Stromness and, like Jessie, attended Stromness Academy and then Edinburgh University. Following graduation, she covered as doctor on Sanday from 1941-1943 when the Island doctor was called up. During this time there was an air raid on the Island, in which one man was killed and eight injured. Dr Marwick was first on the scene and the Air Ministry sent a letter of thanks, commending the prompt way she answered the call and the personal risks she took.

Letter of thanks from the Air Ministry Clerk of Works at RAF Station, Sanday

Thanks to Thelma Stewart for providing us with a copy

In June 1943 Robina was called up to the RAMC. She worked as resuscitation officer with the Ninth British General Hospital and spent time in France, Belgium and then into Germany, reaching Belsen in April 1945. She was one of the first doctors into Belsen concentration camp and describes it as a thousand times worse than anything they could have imagined. 

Robina married Harold Leslie (later Lord Birsay), and although she didn't continue practicing as a doctor, she was involved in related work including marriage guidance counselling.

The Archive holds a BBC Radio Orkney Interview OSA/RO7/161 interviewing Robina Marwick in which she talks about her life. 

Margaret Tait 1918-1999

Most people know Margaret Tait as a filmmaker, however she initially trained and practiced as a doctor. She studied at the University of Edinburgh, graduating in 1941 and, served in the Royal Army Medical Corps from 1943-1945 before practicing as a general practitioner throughout the UK. She grew up in Orkney and lived here for most of her later life.

The Archive holds Margaret Tait’s extensive written archive (D97), which contains a wealth of material including film scripts, letters, diaries, business records. You can find out more at the Margaret Tait 100 blog.

and further down the page:

Excerpt from article written by Margaret Tait -  D97/23/1/18

We hope this gives you a flavour of a tiny number of these remarkable women and if you would like to find out more about the Orkney Women Doctors Research Group (OWDRG) and more of these women see:

 

Blog: orkneywomendoctors.blogspot.com/

Facebook: Orkney Women Doctors Project (1894-1948)

Email: owdpst@gmail.com

Photograph taken of part of display cabinet

Kirkwall Map Discovery

Our team of volunteers have been hard at work sifting through the bundles of documents in the Balfour of Balfour & Trenaby papers. They have been finding lots of interesting documents and we are gradually listing them all on our new online catalogue, so that everyone can see the list too. 

Last week Anne was looking at bundle 9 in the 26th box. It is a bundle of bundles. Rather than individual unrelated documents, bundle 9 contains several groups of related documents. One group is grandly called the 'Langstane Process" and is a court case about a disputed piece of ground in Kirkwall in 1798. What is very interesting is that it comes with a plan.

A plan from 1798! 1798! Why am I exclaiming? 

Because we don't have many detailed plans of Kirkwall for the 1700s. This is a very early map of Kirkwall and we're all very excited!! 

D2/26/9 - Plan of disputed lands in Kirkwall, 1798.
Click on image to enlarge it on your screen. 
Not to be reproduced without permission from Orkney Archive

There are a few recognisable features in this plan such as The Strynd and the High Street (now Albert Street). See if you can work out where in Kirkwall it was, where the burn was and where the bridges were. Once we know more about the court case, we'll share the story. In the meantime, just admire the map. 

Other maps of Kirkwall in this time period are this one from 33 years earlier: 

D8/E/19 Kirkwall 1766, surveyed by William Aberdeen
Click on image to enlarge it on your screen
Not to be reproduced without permission from Orkney Archive

And this one from 33 years later: 

D8/E/28 Kirkwall boundaries, 1831
Click on image to enlarge it on your screen
Not to be reproduced without permission from Orkney Archive

Pigtail Tobacco, Brandy, and Other Necessities

New post by Guest Blogger: Joan Barrett

Part One:

When I read on Facebook an invitation to volunteer for work on the LIFTE project from the University of the Highlands and Islands, I immediately responded, offering to help with the transcription of 17th-century Orcadian documents. My grandfather was born on Westray in 1884; his mother’s family traces there to the mid 1600’s. Over many years I had struggled with their wills and sasines, so I thought perhaps that practice would help me to get started.

Handwriting was my first challenge. I spent untold hours with palaeography tutorials from the National Archives and from ScottishHandwriting.com. I became fairly proficient with Secretary Hand, but little could prepare me for the idiosyncratic handwriting used in “accompts” and letters.

Next was vocabulary. Anne Mitchell, our LIFTE group leader, introduced us to the Dictionary of Scottish Language. Soon my transcriptions became weighed down with footnotes containing definitions from the DSL.

Early in the project, I developed an interest in Captain Peter Winchester. When new documents were offered, I greedily took everything relating to him. Of the ninety-seven documents I transcribed for LIFTE, sixty-six pertained to Peter Winchester, including a few concerning his children. Since the conclusion of LIFTE, I have transcribed thirteen more Winchester documents and have one remaining to be finished.

Peter Winchester presents as both a privateer during the Anglo-Dutch wars and as a merchant, plying his trade in Scotland, Norway, the Netherlands, England, Ireland, France, and Spain. The products he carried, bought, and sold allow us a glimpse into his world. Of particular interest is Orkney Archives D14.6.8.Acct resting PW 1663-7.

Types of merchandise mentioned range widely. Building materials include nails (double, door, and window), knapples or knapholts (clapboard), and wooden planks of fir and oak called deals. Practical goods included vinegar, brandy and “wyne,” firkens of soap, flour, nutmegs, bags of pepper, enetseids (aniseeds), prunes, sugar loaves, horn spoons, and courtain frenzie (curtain fringe). Weaponry-related items include shot, a “great large doubell springed stock lock,” a firelock, and a broadsword. Tobacco and pipes include “cutt & dry tobaco & thre disson of pypes,” twist “tobakcoe,” and “10 p[ounds] pigtaill tob[acco] at 12 sh per pund.”

Much of the merchandise was destined for the tailoring trade. Fabrics include stenting (canvas), buckram, red baize, drop silk, and both “inglish” and “orknay cloath.” Many items were used in the construction of garments, such as hooks and eyes, pasboord (a stiffening) and ballen (whalebone), plus lavish embellishments including gold buttons and “drop silver and gold louping.”

Individual items might have been meant for Captain Winchester and his family: a golf ball, “ane pair childrens shoon,” “a pair quhyt chiverings” (white kid gloves), “ane gray leigh (low) crouned hatt and a kease yrto,” a pair of stockings plus “3 paire ditto fyner,” and a “kain with ane quhyt ivorie head.”

In November 1663, items specifically meant for Peter Winchester were “ane coffen (coffin) to his chyld 24 sh, kirk libartie 40 sh” and “for making the graff (grave) and bell at 27 sh 8 d.” The memorial for Peter Winchester’s wife, Jean Baikie, includes the names of three of their children interred at St. Magnus Cathedral. The death dates of Peter and Arthur are later than 1663, so it is likely that it was Alexander whose death is referenced here.

The years during which I spent discovering 17th-century Orkney have been illuminating and enriching. I will always appreciate the opportunity to be part of the LIFTE experience.

Following is a snapshot containing lines numbered 1-17 of this document:

Archive reference: D14/6/8 from the Walter Traill Dennison archive collection