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...

 An earlier post detailed the challenges that the island of Papa Westray (known locally as Papay) had experienced since 1896 in trying to get a local Resident Medical Officer. Prior to that the doctor from Westray had to be rowed over.  Once Papay had secured funding for a resident doctor they found it was very hard to recruit them, and they often didn’t stay.  Many were young women doctors, newly qualified in Glasgow and Edinburgh and found the lack of transport and housing made it intolerable for them to remain on the island.  Link to earlier post One woman doctor was the exception to this.  She arrived in 1926 and stayed until 1945. Dr Jean McPhail had previous experience of Orkney and islands and this likely informed her decision to apply for the job on Papay.   Also by this time a house for the doctor had been built, complete with surgery. Island life clearly suited her as she became fully involved in the community, married a local man and ...

  Dr Prudence Gaffikin was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1874.[1] She began working on Papa Westray (Papay) in 1901 at the age of 27, just a few months after qualifying from the Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow in 1900.[2] The Papa Westray Parish Minutes of 10 April 1901 note an application from Dr Gaffikin for the post of Medical Officer and Public Vaccinator. The Council agreed to appoint her from 5 May 1901. Dr Gaffikin subsequently resigned (letter of 2 July 1901) with effect from October 1901. No reason for her resignation is noted in the minutes.[3] In 1902 she appears to have moved to Westray to work as an assistant to the Medical Officer there (thought to be a Dr Skea). She is mentioned in the Papa Westray minutes at a joint meeting of the Parish Council and the Medical Committee of 18 August 1902.  The Parish Council ask her if she would return as Medical Officer to Papa Westray – but she declines.[3] Dr Gaffikin was preceded on Papa Westray by Dr Jane Cr...

 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,...

This was a request made by Dr Jeannie Newton to the Medical Committee and Parish Council on the Orkney island of Papa Westray in October 1902, as a condition for staying longer in her post as Resident Medical Officer and Public Vaccinator. It indicates one of the challenges facing the doctors working on the island at the time and the problems which faced the island committees in appointing and retaining a resident doctor on the island. CO6/11/1: Public Assistance Papa Westray Parochial Board/Parish Council Minute Book, 1895-1903, Orkney Library and Archive In December 1896, it was recorded that the Parish Council had received a “numerously signed petition” from rate payers and others asking for a Resident Medical Officer to be appointed for the island (population at the time 337). Until this time, Papa Westray   (or Papay as it is known locally) was served by the Resident Medical Officer from the nearest island of Westray. However, the distance between the two islands is 4 miles an...