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Stop 4: Health Services for Women and Children - Agnes Thomson (1880-1952) Clementina Esslemont OBE (1864-1958) Fenella Paton (1901-1945) and Mary Esslemont (1891-1984)
2303 The first sick children's hospital on site of former Naval Surgeon's Dr Blaikie surgery on 6-8 Castle Terrace in 1877 extended to take in Castle Brae Chapel. An unsung heroine that worked on this site is Dr Agnes Thomson (nee Baxter) a graduate from Aberdeen University who served as an anaesthetist at the Sick Children's and Maternity Hospitals during the First World War. Agnes Thomson was instrumental in founding the Aberdeen Mother and Baby Home and volunteered her services to the Mother and Child Welfare Association, which was established to address the shockingly high death rate of babies and toddlers in the east end of Aberdeen.
Throughout her life, Clementina Esslemont OBE was a champion of liberal ideas and good causes and well known for her no-nonsense approach to social service provision. One of her principal achievements was the foundation of the Aberdeen Mother and Child Welfare Association in 1909, which played an important role in social service and public health provision in the City of Aberdeen until the creation of the Public Health Department in 1949. She was also involved in the establishment of a model block of tenements on the Spital, Aberdeen, in the formation of Aberdeen Lads' Club, St Katherine's Club, and the nursery school movement.
Dr Mary Esslemont, one of Clementina Esslemont's daughters, worked as a Gynaecologist at the hospital. Mary did much to improve the care and wellbeing for mothers and babies with her determination and hard work. As well as being the Gynaecologist she also ran prenatal and family planning clinics. Mary was an advocate of women's rights, health education and family planning. She was the first female president of the Student University Council and the first woman to be president of Aberdeen Liberal Association in 1954. Awarded the CBE in 1955, Aberdeen City Council bestowed the Freedom of the City of Aberdeen in 1981.
Aberdeen has also led the way in family planning with a remarkable woman at the forefront of fertility control. Pioneer Fenella Paton opened Aberdeen's first family planning clinic in 1926 at Gerrard street. The clinic, the first of its kind in Scotland, moved to new premises in Castle Street in 1948. But prior to these clinics and innovations in family planning there were large families and mothers that needed to go out to work and at our next stop an initiative was put in place to help these working women.
Memories:
Norma Michie speaking about Mary Esslemont
Audrey's memories of the Family Planning Clinic
Denise's memory of the Family Planning Clinic
Heather's memories of Ina Lawrence and the Children's Hospital
Alma Duncan's memories of Cocky Hunters Treasure 52: Press and Journal and Evening Express Strike Editions
227 The General Strike of 3 to 13 May 1926 was a significant event in Britain's social history and affected the whole country. Strike editions of newspapers from the period provide an insight into the way of life in a time of national unrest. In our collections, we hold the strike editions of local newspapers The Aberdeen Press and Journal and The Evening Express which report on the General Strike and how it affected people in the north east of Scotland. The Press and Journal Strike editions were published between 5 and 10 May and The Evening Express Strike editions were published between the 4 and 7 May.
Beginning with the coal industry, the General Strike quickly spread to other industries including transport (railways, sea transport, harbours, canals, docks, roads) and production industries (iron and steel, chemicals) and the building trade. The printing trade, including the press, was also affected by the strike. On 4 May, The Press and Journal and The Evening Express published a short article stating that they "may be unable to produce the usual issues of [the] newspapers" during the strike. Many newspapers failed indeed to appear as only 'skeleton staff' were available.
During the strikes period, most of the local papers were published in a much smaller format but were still hugely popular as the main source of news. Aberdeen newspapers Ltd., the company publisher for both The Press and Journal and The Evening Express, distributed a substantial number of issues. The few employees not on strike took charge of the publication, typing out the news and dispatching issues across the city. The news was passed out through a single sheet of paper and was sold for between a halfpenny and 1p. The papers were very popular and shared updates on the strike and the number of people volunteering in Aberdeen. In addition to strike news, the editions also reported on other local news and current topics including fish markets and cricket scores.
Some of the copies in our collection feature the names and addresses of relatives living outside the city, suggesting that people with access to the newspapers distributed them to relatives and friends in a wider geographical area.
Do you know that you can access millions of digitised articles from British newspapers for free in any of our libraries? The British Newspaper Archive is a gateway to the past, offering access to thousands of historical newspaper articles about issues such as The General Strike. Access the resource from any PC in the library via the Aberdeen City Libraries website. |