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Dr Robina Marwick (Lady Birsay) - Part 2 - Sanday 1940-1943

 

In Part 1 we introduced Dr Robina (Rina) Marwick and her early life. In this post the story focuses on her time during World War II on the island of Sanday, one of the more Northerly of the Orkney Islands. She arrived on the island in 1940 as the previous island doctor had been called up.

Rina Marwick on Sanday

Rina Marwick was born in Stromness on 2nd August, 1914, just two days before World War 1 broke out and now in 1940 she was once again living through war but this time taking an active part.

Records show Dr Marwick was on Sanday in March 1940.[1] She was the first woman doctor to reside on the island, there having been one earlier known woman doctor, Dr Jean McPhail, acting as a locum for her brother in the 1920s.[2]

It had been thought that the isolation of Sanday was an unsuitable place for a woman doctor.[3] However, at just 25, Dr Marwick found herself the sole medical doctor on the island, caring for an island population of about 1,000.[4]

Doctors house on Sanday

Dr Marwick always maintained that her job was made easier by having very good and experienced District Nurses to support her. She felt that island midwives and nurses could do a lot in a country district.[5]  She also said that the island air service, run by Captain Fresson, was “a great boon for Doctors and patients”. They were able to get drugs out to the island quickly and it made it much easier to get ill or injured patients to hospital.  The pilots took risks – “I have seen them flying between the dyke and the telegraph wires – but their safety record was excellent”.[3] She said “if you got a patient medically evacuated to the hospital and they didn’t need an operation immediately, your name was mud!” as it was seen as misusing resources, and spending money unnecessarily.[5]

Dr Marwick said she enjoyed her time on the island, but missed having another Doctor to consult.[5]

AIR RAID ON SANDAY RAF STATION

While Sanday might have been seen as isolated during this period, Orkney was home to the strategically important naval base at Scapa Flow, which served the Royal Navy during WWII. The Army and Royal Air Force (RAF) also maintained a presence in the county. From 1941, Sanday was equipped with a ChainHome radar station, RAF Whale Head, which was part of a network of coastal early warning stations designed to detect and monitor aircraft.

It was in 1941 on the 9th March, at lunch time, that this RAF Radar Station, was hit by a bomber and Dr Marwick attended the scene to help with casualties.  One man was killed and six others were injured. A boat came out from Kirkwall to take those injured to hospital.[5] Dr Marwick received a letter from the Clerk of Works at the Station, thanking her for the prompt way she answered the call for help and for the “efficient way in which cases were dealt with. No doubt you realise, as we all do, you were working at great personal risk to yourself and no words of mine can express sufficient thanks.”[6] Rina, in what seems her usually understated way described the incident as “quite an exciting time”![5]

Letter from Clerk of RAF Station

Dr Marwick left Sanday in 1943 as she had joined the Royal Army Medical Corp (RAMC). Her extraordinary story during that difficult and remarkable period will be told in the next blog post.

AFTER THE WAR – Return to Sanday

Jumping ahead a little, at the end of the War Dr Marwick married Harald Leslie KC, later Lord Birsay.  He was an Edinburgh Barrister, was Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly and had stood as the Labour candidate in the 1950 General Election campaign in Orkney.  Despite this whenever they returned to Sanday, he was known simply as “Dr Marwick’s husband”.

Start Point Lighthouse, Sanday

Thelma Stewart, daughter of Dr. Rina Marwick, recounted that at her mother’s memorial service, several elderly people approached her to introduce themselves. They remembered Dr. Marwick as their former island doctor—something Thelma found surprising, given that her mother had practiced on Sanday for only a brief period and had departed nearly fifty years prior. This again highlights the remarkable character and lasting impact of Dr. Rina Marwick.[3]

Rina with her father, Provost James Marwick, and brother, Dr Harry Marwick

Blog post written by Sian Thomas.  Photos courtesy of Thelma Stewart

We are indebted to Thelma Stewart, daughter of Dr Robina Marwick, for providing source material. Thanks are also due to Pat Long and Kathleen Ireland for information early on in our project, and to the Orkney Library & Archive for facilitating access to the Radio Orkney recording

References

[1] Register of death records Sanday 1940 (page 1)

[2] Information from Sanday Heritage Centre.

[3] Information provided by Thelma Stewart, daughter of Dr Robina Marwick.

[4] Population figures in Barclay R.S. “The Population of Orkney". Published by W.R. Mackintosh, The Kirkwall Press, 1965.

[5] Robina Marwick/Leslie – Lady Birsay interview with BBC Radio Orkney – Orkney Library and Archive reference OSA/RO7/161.

[6] J. H. Guest, Clerk of Works, RAF Radar Station, Sanday (dated 9.3.1941).

 


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  1. Anabel MarshJuly 30, 2025 at 7:05 AM

    “Dr Marwick’s husband” - excellent priorities! She sounds a remarkable woman.

    ReplyDelete

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