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Stop 11: Early Health Services at Aberdeen General Dispensary, Vaccine and Lying-in Institution, 1823
2310 We have to use our imagination a little as the street known affectionately by locals as the 'Gushie' no longer exists other than Provost Skene's House which has the address of 45 Guestrow. In 1823 The General Dispensary, Vaccine and Lying-In Hospital opened in Guestrow, a street that ran parallel to Broad Street from where approximately the Illicit Still is today to where it joined Upperkirkgate.
The General Dispensary, Vaccine and Lying-in Hospital gave free medical advice and treatment to all that required it. These early health services were provided for poorer families often living in the East End of Aberdeen who couldn't afford to pay for medicine, vaccines or to see a doctor. Although a team of doctors were employed at the Institution, young medical students from across the road here at Marischal College also undertook some of their training at the Institution.
The Lying-In part of the Hospital was for women who, once they had had their babies, would 'lie in' for a few weeks as they had such poor living conditions at home. In 1880 it was recorded that 3327 cases were dealt with in that one year alone. It wasn't until 1892 that midwives were employed, recognizing the need for specialist nursing care for pregnant women. This greatly improved the nursing care provided and understanding of the specific needs of mothers and babies.
A famous daughter of Aberdeen who has shaped midwifery throughout the world is Maggie Myles (1892-1988) who wrote her groundbreaking book Textbook for Midwives 'With Modern Concepts of Obstetrics and Neo-natal Care' in 1953, the year before she retired. Maggie produced a further nine editions, each kept up-to-date with the latest developments and best practice. The book has been translated into many languages and is recognized as the leading international textbook for midwives. The book is now in its 15th edition. Born in 1892 in Aberdeen the daughter of a housepainter and former domestic servant Maggie Myles life story is truly remarkable. Migrating to Canada soon after leaving school Maggie would rise to become the director of midwifery education in Philadelphia and Detroit before returning to Scotland in 1939 to be Midwifery Tutor at Simpson Memorial Maternity Pavilion in Edinburgh.
Memories:
Heather's memories of Billie Maver and the General Dispensary
Nora recounts her memories of Maggie Myles
Edith shares her memories of Maggie Myles Treasure 41: Mary Garden Record Collection
210 We hold a number of original vinyl records in our collections, including those of Mary Garden, a local girl who found global fame as an opera singer in the early 20th Century.
Born at 35 Charlotte Street on 20 February 1874, Mary Garden left her native Aberdeen around the age of nine when the family moved to America in search of better opportunities and a new life.
After a period of uncertainty and several moves, a young Mary accepted a role as a childminder in Chicago, with payment taking the form of singing lessons to further her obvious interest. By 1896, Mary had shown sufficient progress that she accompanied her tutor to Paris in a quest to pursue a career in opera.
Mary's first big break came in 1900, when she performed in the new opera, Louise after the main star became unwell. A series of leading roles followed in 1901, including Thaïs, Manon and Madame Chrysanthème. For the next decade, Mary courted both limelight and controversy as she portrayed leading characters on stage, while being romantically linked to various composers and directors off-stage. Adding fuel to these fires of speculation, Claude Debussy chose Garden to create the title role of his new play, Mélisande, overruling the preference of his own librettist.
At the outbreak of the First World War, Mary attempted to enlist in the French army - but with her identity discovered, she instead turned to nursing at a hospital in Versailles. When she returned to America, she continued to raise funds for the French Red Cross. Her efforts during both war and peacetime generated awards from Serbia and France.
Mary appeared in two silent films - the first released in 1918 - but she found difficulty adapting to the new medium and this separate career never took off. She returned to her first passion and continued to perform in opera until the mid-1930s.
In 1921, Mary was offered the role of director of the Chicago Opera Association, and as she was still performing - undertook both roles with fervour. Under her tenure, the Association took on many new and exciting artists and works.
At the outbreak of war in 1939, Mary chose to remain in Paris, until the German invasion forced her to escape, leaving all of her possessions behind. In June 1940, she returned to Aberdeen but the lure of teaching the next operatic generation proved too strong and she once again travelled to America to coach young stars and give lectures in 1949-1950.
By this time, it appears that Mary's memory had started to suffer - evidenced by the 1951 autobiographical publication Mary Garden's Story which was riddled with factual errors. The book received disastrous reviews and possibly led to her decision to reside permanently in Aberdeen from 1954.
Mary died in 1967 in the House of Daviot, a country hospital near Inverurie, aged 92. Fifty friends attended a small ceremony. A small commemorative plaque is located at 41 Dee Street where the Garden family lived, and a small garden is dedicated to her memory in Craigie Loanings.
Although she remains relatively little known in her native Aberdeen, Mary's legacy is considerable in the United States - particularly in Chicago where her stewardship of the Opera Association is still remembered fondly.
Treasure 46: The Aberdeen Herald
217 When the first weekly issue of The Aberdeen's Journal was published by James Chalmers in January 1748 who would have guessed it would still be in production today (admittedly with several changes of title and ownership) as The Press and Journal.
The monopoly of The Aberdeen Journal, as it soon became, remained almost unchallenged throughout the eighteenth century but the nineteenth century saw the publication of several competing newspapers. Most of these were short-lived but included The Aberdeen Herald, and General Advertiser for The Counties of Aberdeenshire, Banffshire, and Kincardineshire, which was published between 1832 and 1876.
We hold the first copy of this weekly newspaper in our collections. It was printed and published by George Cornwall, and was issued on Saturday 1 September 1832. It succeeded an earlier paper called The Aberdeen Chronicle which had been in production since 1806. The Aberdeen Journal was seen then as politically neutral but the Herald is described as Whig-Radical and its opening advertisement states "In fact, the chief object of The Aberdeen Herald will be to obtain a cheap, efficient, and patriotic system of Government".
Since the Herald was published on a Saturday while the Journal appeared on Wednesday, it was able to include articles which would have been old news by the following Wednesday and could also provide updates to news from earlier in the week.
The newspaper cost 7d which was far beyond what an ordinary person could pay and restricted readership to the wealthy. This high cost was a result of taxes imposed by the Stamp Act of 1712 which was not abolished until 1855. Papers could then be bought for 1d and there was freedom to produce mass-circulation newspapers with improved text layout.
The front pages of newspapers, even as recently as the early 1900s, did not contain news stories but were filled with adverts - business, theatrical events, shipping, property and public notices. The issue of The Aberdeen Herald for 21 April 1866 contained an advert explaining the change of name for the town of Inverurie. Local historian, Dr Douglas Lockhart, provides the following account of the town's name change.
The market town of Inverurie was one of the fastest growing places in Aberdeenshire during the mid-nineteenth century when its population increased from 735 in 1821 to 2524 in 1871. Many factors contributed to rapid growth at this time including good communications, initially by turnpike roads and the Aberdeenshire Canal to nearby Port Elphinstone, and from the mid-century it lay astride the railway line between Aberdeen, Elgin and Inverness.
Further advantages were the extensive agricultural surroundings, markets and successful local businesses. Surprisingly Alexander Smith in A New History of Aberdeenshire, which was published in 1875, has little to say about the transformation of the town. However, he wrote a lengthy paragraph to describe how 'INVERURIE was, in former times, written Inneraury, Ennerawrie, and Hennerawie, and latterly Inverury' and he notes that the name meant "the confluence of the river of the margin".
On 5 February 1866 the Council met to discuss what appears to have become a growing problem - mail was being sent to Inveraray in Argyllshire because Inverury was not listed by the Post Office as a Post Town. The solution was simple: "return to the ancient spelling of the Burgh as Inverurie and to memorialise the Postmaster General to have it set down on the Lists as a Post Town". The Postmaster agreed to the name change and the scene was set on 19 April for the Council to discuss advertising the new arrangements. The wording of an advertisement was approved and it was decided to place it in the Edinburgh Gazette, Aberdeen Journal, Aberdeen Free Press, Aberdeen Herald and Banffshire Journal and "to endeavour to get the Railway Company to alter the spelling of the Station in their Tables".
Inverury officially became Inverurie the following day and on 21 April The Aberdeen Herald announced the change of name in the advertising columns of its front page. The Banffshire Journal in addition to printing the advertisement also published a glowing report on building activity in the burgh and noted that "within the memory of living inhabitants [the town] has been thoroughly regenerated".
Aberdeen Local Studies holds files of many local newspapers on microfilm, including the Aberdeen Herald and the Free Press. A digitised partial file is also available on the British Newspaper Archive which can be freely consulted online in the Central Library using your library card. Treasure 99: Local Fiction Collection
318 A lesser known part of our Local Studies stock is our substantial collection of local fiction.
The collection ranges from well-known figures like Lewis Grassic Gibbon to more obscure authors, largely forgotten in the history of literature. As way of an introduction to this sizable collection we will consider some of the lesser known authors in the collection and explore their lives. During the years of 1892 to 1894 Aberdeen City and Shire was home to the eccentric artist and man of letters, Frederick William Rolfe (1860-1913), also known as Baron Corvo. Rolfe was a Londoner who came from a strict and respectable family of Dissenters. He left school early before working as a schoolmaster and tutor. In Local Studies we have a copy of perhaps his most challenging work, Don Renato: An Ideal Content. It was published posthumously by Chatto & Windus in 1963. This is an experimental novel, taking the form of a diary of a fictional chaplain and physician in 16th century Rome.
Another author in our collection is William Gordon Stables (c.1837 - 1910), born in Aberchirder, who was the son of a vintner in Marnock and later Inverurie. During his time in the Navy and later in the merchant services, he worked and travelled all over the world including the Mediterranean, Africa, India and the South Seas. He wrote over 130 books and is primarily remembered as an author of boy's own adventure stories such as The Cruise of the Snowbird (1882), Wild Adventures Round the Pole (1883), and From Pole to Pole (1886). We hold a large number of Stables' novels. The volumes, published by a variety of companies, are often quite beautiful with intricate designs and illustrations on the binding and inside to accompany the story.
To learn about more interesting authors in our collection, have a browse in the Treasures from our Collections interactive exhibition. |