I’ve always thought this is the best photograph of a nurse I’d ever seen. The sheer joy in the midwife’s face is utterly captivating. I first came across it as postcard in the Florence Nightingale Museum at St Thomas’s, as… Read More ›
medical and nursing
Life saving archives
We don’t hear much about the capacity of archives to prolong or even save life. Left gathering decades of dust, we tend to think of them as a health hazard rather than their potential for improving health and wellbeing. A… Read More ›
The benefits of frontier-free science
It’s hard to pin down what we actually lose if the free movement of people and ideas diminishes or dies. Scotland’s historic close links with Europe help explain its overwhelming vote to stay in the EU. Free exchange in the… Read More ›
Sister Dora – the first female statue?
The first public statue for a woman in Britain turns up in an unlikely place. Walsall is an industrial town in the Black Country north of Birmingham. I have a lot of affection for it – it’s where I did… Read More ›
Nurses and TB in 1950
What was it like to start out as a nurse in 1950? All tickety boo, according to this short film (9 mins) from the NLS Moving Image Archive. Click on the image to see it. It’s a public information/propaganda film… Read More ›
The wee Glasgow women and the birth of Caesarian
Update (October 2022): An updated version of this story appears here in HealthandCare Scotland. Every woman who now undergoes an elective Caesarian section owes a debt to these wee Glasgow wifies. They weren’t the first by any means. But they… Read More ›
Edinburgh still failing Elsie Inglis
I really don’t understand why Edinburgh continues to blithely trample on the memory of Elsie Inglis. It’s more through ignorance and indifference but the blundering shows no signs of abating. Last month did bring official recognition with the naming of… Read More ›
Motorcycling nurses
Meet district nurse Elizabeth McPhee with her rather splendid BSA motorcycle in 1926. She is the headline image in a stunning online collection at the US National Library of Medicine. The exhibition, curated by Julia Hallam, of Liverpool University, who talks… Read More ›
The first hams for heroes
Unlikely as it sounds, the Longniddry Piggery provided Britain’s first purpose-built homes for heroes. The idea came from a group of concerned individuals early in 1915 who set up the Scottish Veterans’ Garden City Association. They drew inspiration from Letchworth… Read More ›
Scotland goes tapestry bonkers (3)
Number three of the great tapestries to come out of Prestonpans is the one stitched by the Scottish communities across the world. As such, the Diaspora Tapestry offers a very different historical perspective than the previous two – for the… Read More ›
The History Company 