Orkney Women Doctors Project (1894 to 1948)

Injured Woman’s Terrible Flight. Marooned and helpless on Papa Westray. Rowing Boat’s Hazardous Voyage. On 25 November 1931, Dr Jean Cursiter left Papa Westray to accompany a seriously injured patient on a hazardous and extraordinary journey to hospital in Kirkwall.[1] She left behind her husband Ian and 8 month old son, Jack. It's unlikely she would return for some days given the stormy weather. Jessie Groat's hand had been caught in a threshing machine, and although the machine was stopped immediately, the limb was crushed and lacerated to the elbow. Her husband, farmer Thomas Groat, of Howe summoned Dr Cursiter who attended to the injury but realised the case was so serious it needed an immediate operation if Mrs Groat was to survive. Papa Westray was completely cut off from any help or rescue. The island had no telegraph or telephone communication to summon help from Kirkwall on the Orkney Mainland.   The sea was rough and dangerous for a small boat to cross. The Orkney...

  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 2 nd  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 ...