Orkney Women Doctors Project (1894 to 1948)

Several of the women doctors we have so far identified were born in Orkney.  Some went South to pursue their careers, while others remained to practise on the islands. Dr  Harriet Taylor chose to practise in Orkney for most of her professional life.   Clockwise: Elizabeth (Lizzie), Harriet, William, Georgina (Gena) and their dog. Thanks to the family for permission to use the photo thought to have been taken about 1920. She was born Harriet Johnston Sutherland Taylor  on 9 October 1896 in Longhope, Walls, on the island of Hoy. She was one of twins, though it was said the girls never looked alike.  Her father, William, is listed variously as a postmaster or farmer, and the family lived at Ness House, up from the pier at Longhope.[1]  Her mother, Georgina Sutherland, died when Harriet was just 4 years old, leaving William to raise Harriet and Elizabeth (twins), Georgina (born 1898) and step-daughter Lena (1883, died 1918).[1, 2] Harriet seems to hav...

As Fiona mentioned in her first post, in the Winter of 2023 we began our research into early women doctors in Orkney. [Read her post here] This project followed on from Fiona’s Beatrice Garvie research. We began our searches in 1894, when the first women doctors were allowed to graduate in Scotland. Our end date was 1948, when the NHS came into being and many things in healthcare changed. We had no expectation of what we might find. To date we have discovered fifty-one women who were born or worked in Orkney between 1894 and 1948.   Yes FIFTY-ONE!   As you can imagine we are astonished, thrilled, and feeling a little overwhelmed. Here is one of the earlier Orkney women doctors, Mary Baird Hannay who was a Doctor on the island of Flotta from 1897 to 1901.  This is a photo of Mary Hannay taken in 1897, before she arrived on the island.  She is the only woman taking part in a Post Graduate Class at the new Pathology Institute at the University of Glasgow.  Photo ...