Women doctors on Flotta

 The island of Flotta is now known as a farming community, the site of the Flotta oil terminal and is popular with tourists. Until the mid 20^th Century, like most of the islands in Orkney, it was primarily a farming and fishing community. So far in our search we have discovered 8 women doctors on the island between 1897 and 1943. Their practice also included the even smaller island of Fara.  The doctor’s surgery from that time, Springbank, is still in use today. Here is a snapshot of the remarkable women who practised on Flotta during that period.

According to Peace’s Almanac of 1897, Dr Margaret Morice, then aged 50, was the Medical Officer on the island.[1] We know little about her time there, but we know she signed death certificates between January and June that year. The population of the island was about 372, with 59 on “South Fara”. Prior to arriving on Flotta, in 1888, Dr Morice was working as a medical missionary in India.[2]  A little later, about 1900, she was in Stroud, England, working with Frances Hoggan who was very active in the women’s suffrage movement. [3]

Photo by permission of University of Glasgow Archives
& Special Collections Ref no. Sp Coll RB 5066

This fascinating photo was taken of Dr Mary Baird Hannay. The only female in the Postgraduate Pathology Class at the University of Glasgow in 1897.[4] The previous year she had graduated with a Master of Surgery and a Batchelor of Medicine (MBCM) from the same university. This was still the very early days when women were permitted to graduate in medicine in the UK. She arrived on Flotta, shortly after this photo was taken, at the age of 26 and remained there until 1901.[5] It is believed she followed Dr Morice to take up the practice.

During Dr Hannay’s time, in 1898 Dr Katie Hogg (Georgina Catherine Hogg) signed a death certificate on Flotta, perhaps working as a locum.[6] Dr Hogg seems to have only been here a short time, and then appears on the island of Eday from 1900 to 1901, reported to be the first woman doctor for the island.[7]

After Dr Hannay had left in 1901 it seems a Dr Adam Hill, 43, took up residence at Springbank. He was born in Ireland.  The 1901 Census has a young girl of 15 visiting him, Emmaline Hill, also from Ireland, likely a relative. [8]

According to the Orkney Herald, in 1906 Dr Edith Wallace was Parish Medical Officer for Flotta and Fara and was also appointed Assistant Medical Officer of Health, with a salary of £4 added to her parish salary.[9] It’s unclear what additional responsibilities this new post brought. Dr Wallace seems to have been very much part of the community, according to several reports at the time in the Orcadian and the Orkney Herald. Examples include attending a social gathering at The Hope of Flotta Temperance Hall,[10] as well as a Grand Social Gathering – a concert at the Flotta Public School to help raise funds for the island Medical Association.[11]

Orcadian 4 April 1906

In 1908 Dr Catherine Kirk together with a Miss Kirk, arrived on the island in a rather dramatic fashion during a snowstorm! We can only imagine what it must have been like to arrive in a small boat, clad in long Victorian skirts having to make their way ashore. Hopefully someone had lit a fire for them to warm themselves by![12]

Orcadian 14 March 1908

Dr Kirk and Miss Kirk appear to have taken a full part in island life, with further reports in the Orcadian in 1909 of them performing during events as part of the Temperance movement which was popular throughout Orkney at the time.[13]

Dr Ida Guillaume.
Photo by kind permission of her family

Dr Ida Guillaume had an association with Orkney of at least a decade. She looks a formidable woman dressed for a wedding in the photo above. She practised on Flotta during 1912,[14] this may have been as a locum as she was known to practise on Papa Westray from 1904/5 [15] and on Shapinsay from 1905 to 1912.[16]  Little is known of her time on the island, though more is known about her on Shapinsay.  A story to tell at a later date!

Orkney Herald 10 October 1934

There seems to be a gap of some years until 1934 when a Dr Margaret Le Roux took up the post of medical practitioner, according to the Orkney Herald in October.[17] In 1931 the population was recorded as 282 for Flotta and just 28 for Fara. Her obituary in the Aberdeen Press in 1981, reports she was the first woman provost of Old Meldrum in Aberdeenshire, and had been the only woman on the council between 1945 and 1950.[18]

The final woman doctor we have so far found practising during our period, Dr Rosamund Ross, was appointed medical practitioner for the island in 1943.[19]  As reported in the Orkney Herald, the civilian population of Flotta had previously relied for medical facilities on the Military Services stationed on the island during World War II.

Unfortunately we have found very little evidence or stories of the lives of these women doctors during their time on Flotta.  We can only imagine the hardships they endured travelling up to Orkney and across to the island.  They were single women, rising to the challenges presented.  For the earlier women, medicine was  rudimentary, and although their salaries were paid for by local medical associations or parish, patients still had to pay for their services.  This could lead to delays in seeking whatever help was available, with consequence of additional complications.

We hope to visit Flotta soon to explore the archives there and perhaps learn more about the lives of these extraordinary and determined women. If you know anything about any of these amazing women, do please get in touch.

Blog post written by Sian Thomas 

References:

[1] “Margaret Morice” Peace’s Orkney and Shetland Almanac and County Directory, William Peace, Kirkwall, 1897 entries.
[2]  Professor Roger Jeffrey of the University of Edinburgh - Database on Women Doctors.
[3] Les femmes docteurs en médecine dans tous les pays : étude historique,
statistique, documentaire et anecdotique sur l'art de la médecine exercé
par la femme / Haryett Fontanges. Paris : Alliance coopérative du livre, 1901. https://wellcomecollection.org/works/d33bafxe
[4] University of Glagow  https://universityofglasgowlibrary.wordpress.com/2016/03/08/first-women-graduates/
[5] Register of Deaths, District of Flotta, Orkney, 1898, page 1.
[6] Register of Deaths, District of Flotta, Orkney, 1898, page 2.
[7] Hebden Rosemary, “Eday: Orkney’s Best Kept Secret”, Carrick Press, First Edition: 1^st September 2008
[8] “Adam Hill” (1901) Census Return for Orkney. Available at the Orkney Library and Archive
[9] Orkney Herald 1906
[10] Orcadian 29 September 1906
[11] Orkney Herald 4 April 1906
[12] Orcadian 14 March 1908.
[13] Orcadian 1909
[14] Register of Deaths, District of Flotta,  Orkney, 1912, page 1
[15] “Papa Westray” Peace’s Orkney and Shetland Almanac and County Directory, William Peace, Kirkwall, 1905 entries.
[16] Register of death, Parish of Shapinsay, Orkney, 1908, 1909, 1910, 1912
[17] Orkney Herald, 10 October 1934
[18] Obituary for Dr Margaret Le Roux, Aberdeen Press & Journal 23^rd March 1981
[19] Orkney Herald 26 May 1943

Population figures were taken from Barclay R.S. “The Population of Orkney 1755-1916. Published by W.R. Mackintosh, The Kirkwall Press, 1965.

Current information about Flotta can be found here

A blog about the history of Flotta can be found here