Orkney Women Doctors Project (1894 to 1948)

  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...

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...