Orkney Women Doctors Project (1894 to 1948)

  Dr Robina Marwick - RAMC Remembrance Day 11 November 2025 marked 80 years since  VE Day (Victory in Europe Day) on 8  May and VJ Day (Victory in Japan Day) on 15  August.  It therefore feels timely to tell the story of Orkney born woman doctor, Dr Robina (Rina) Marwick, one of the first doctors to enter the Belsen Concentration Camp. Dr Marwick joined the RAMC (Royal Army Medical Corps) in 1943 and was stationed in Leeds, Aldershot and Hastings. She crossed to Normandy in July 1944, a month after the D-Day landings. Stationed in a hospital in Antwerp she was in charge of the Resuscitation Ward. There she tended severely wounded patients, giving them transfusions and other treatments to enable them to be fit enough for further operations.[1] Dr Marwick - Resuscitation Ward On 1 January 1945 she tells in her own words how they all rushed outside as “at breakfast time we heard a lot of planes flying over quite low. We all went outside to see them and give the...

 Dr Robina Marwick’s story is now perhaps better known among an older generation in Orkney. She was on our initial list of Orkney women doctors when we first formed our group, but with over 50 women to research, we had only gathered some basic information. Recently, however, we have been delighted to receive a wealth of source material from Dr Marwick's daughter, Thelma Stewart.  We are indebted to Thelma for sharing more about the life of her mother which gives a rich insight into the extraordinary life of Dr Robina Marwick. We aim to tell Dr Marwick’s remarkable story in a series of blog posts. Graduation photo of Robina Marwick WHAT WE KNEW Rina (as she was known to family and friends) was born Robina Margaret Marwick, in Graham Place, Stromness on 2 nd  August 1914.  She did extremely well at school in Stromness and won a Scholarship to the University of Edinburgh to study medicine, qualifying in 1937. She briefly worked in Edinburgh and Sunderland hospitals be...

  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...