Glasgow Obstetrical & Gynaecological Society, 111th session
Minutes of the Glasgow Obstetrical and Gynaecological Society held in the Royal College of
Physicians and Surgeons on 21st March 2012
The Senior Vice President, Dr Kevin Hanretty, was in the chair.
In attendance – 41
Apologies – Drs Mack, Spowart, Hepburn, Gemmell, Brennand, Brogan, Anthony, Lumsden,
Perera, and Caroline Toye, medical student.
Dr Melrose awarded Drs Crichton and Low an Honorary Fellowship of the Glasgow Obstetrical
and Gynaecological Society for their long contribution and regular attendance at meetings. Both
responded with a word of thanks.
PRESENTATION
Dr Hanretty introduced Dr Melrose, and invited her to address the society with her Presidential
address entitled ‘GOGS – an historical perspective’.
Below is a copy of her address which I have pasted intact for those who wish to be reminded of
the detailed history which Elaine shared with us.
Mr. Senior Vice President, Honorary Fellows, Ladies and Gentlemen, it gives me great pleasure to stand
before you tonight to deliver my presidential address. Thank you for coming!
I have been very honoured to undertake the role of your president over these past two years – the 59th
person to occupy the role and the 4th woman.
I have chosen as the theme for my Presidential address “GOGS: An Historical Perspective”. Let me
explain…since being very much involved in the publication of “60 years of Childbirth at Ayrshire Central”,
produced just as the maternity unit moved to its new site on the Crosshouse campus, I have been
interested in the history of obstetrics and gynaecology. However, I note that Professor Sir Dugald Baird, a
previous honorary fellow of this Society said – “an interest in medical history is the first sign of
professional senility.”
In a rash moment, at one of the Council meetings, I volunteered to undertake some research into the
history of the Glasgow Obstetrical and Gynaecological Society. Several other presidents have done this
and have used historical themes for their addresses, most recently, Dr Bill Black, who was President of
the Society during its centenary year. He traced its origins and used this as the basis for his very erudite
address. He also published an article in the Scottish Medical Journal detailing the history of the Glasgow
Obstetrical and Gynaecological Society from 1885 – 1985. He was kind enough to give me this archival
material when I assumed the Presidency.
This was a valuable resource and I have also spent many an hour upstairs here in the College Library
trawling through the old minute books of the Society lodged in their archive as well as reading through the
nine volumes of the Transactions of the Society that were published. I have found this a fascinating
exercise that still continues and will continue for some time! I thought that I would share something of this
history tonight – something of obstetric and gynaecological practice in Glasgow over the past 125 years
as well as some reflections on the history of the Society itself. I feel that this is justified, as I am conscious
that more than a quarter of a century has elapsed since his address and few if any of those attending
tonight will have been present then and even if they were, they are unlikely to remember what was said!!!
I have picked out some highlights with especial reference to the place of women in the Society and the
early education of women, given that I had a long interest in training in obstetrics and gynaecology, but I
rather fear that I will not be as learned as my predecessors with their fundamentally classical education!
Before embarking on the main theme of this presentation, I thought that I would give you a little of my own
history……….
I began my journey in obstetrics and gynaecology within the hallowed walls of the Royal Infirmary of
Edinburgh and Simpson Memorial Maternity Pavilion, sadly no more since the transfer of hospital services
from that site to the large campus at Little France, and in a sorry state now!
You may have heard of a “trial by sherry”, well my first interview was a “trial by dinner” – one I almost
missed because I managed to have a car accident en route! However, a little shaken, I met up with my
future consultant boss and so began my journey through east Scotland, north-east England, west of
Scotland, South Africa, back to the west of Scotland and to my final workplace of Ayrshire.
After completing my year in Simpson’s, I went to Newcastle upon Tyne to undertake an elective in Family
Planning with Mary Peberdy, the northeast’s equivalent of Glasgow’s Libby Wilson – both women sharing
a passionate interest in family planning and ensuring an excellent service for their clients. The nurse in
the clinic was a delightful lady who obviously came late to family planning because she had 15 children!!!
From there, I joined the training scheme in Newcastle, with 1:2 and 1:3 rotas in obstetrics, much was
learned. My main base was the Princess Mary Maternity Hospital, now converted into luxury apartments
and townhouses; there were rotations to Ashington Hospital, now transferred to a modern new build –
Wansbeck General Infirmary – and to Dryburn Hospital in Durham, now a university hospital.
Uncertain of the future, I obtained a registrar post in Glasgow, serving the Eastern District Hospitals –
Duke Street Hospital, Rottenrow, GRI and I also visited The Samaritan Hospital – all these have either
disappeared completely or have changed beyond all recognition.
I was invited to exchange with a registrar from Durban in South Africa and so almost 30 years to the day I
found myself adrift in a strange country. I was privileged to work in King Edward VIII hospital under
Professor Hugh Philpott who developed the partogram.
With nearly 17,000 deliveries in the hospital, there was a wealth of clinical material; there was also a
month spent learning epidural anaesthesia – even being responsible for the night shift! And a month as a
medical officer in an outlying community hospital…what an experience! After I returned to Glasgow, I
gained an SR job (instead of going to visit a friend in California – Bill Black suggested that trip might be
unwise and to date I have never been!). I worked at Rottenrow and the Southern General Hospital before
being appointed in Ayrshire.
Rottenrow has long since been demolished leaving only its façade and the Southern General has
changed beyond all recognition.
Even Ayrshire Central Maternity Hospital disappeared during my time in Ayrshire….with the Maternity
Hospital transferring to the new build Unit at Crosshouse Hospital. Perhaps my employment in any
institution is a bad omen for the place!!!
I was the first female O & G consultant to be appointed in Ayrshire. This situation pertained for 11 years
before I was joined by Gill Irvine. Subsequently, more women than men have been appointed there
…with 8 now in post!
Enough of me and on to the subject for this address….GOGS: An Historical Perspective.
The Glasgow Medical Journal, Volume 24 covering the period July to December 1885, records the
following:
“ For some considerable time it has been felt that it would be well to have a special society in Glasgow for
the consideration and discussion of questions appertaining to the practice of midwifery and the diseases
of women and children. The societies of this description in Edinburgh and London are practically beyond
the reach of the ordinary practitioner, who cannot leave his practice even for a few hours without some
trouble and anxiety, and yet it is the general practitioner who usually meets with the most interesting and
instructive cases, and who must be encouraged, for his own good and that of science, to bring such under
the notice of his professional brethren.
We have heard Glasgow evil spoken of as a city whose medical men were distinguished more for love of
money than love of science; but the flourishing condition of its scientific associations, and the fact that the
demand for a new society for the advancement of obstetric knowledge has emanated from several
practitioners seems to contradict such a statement. A few months ago a number of gentlemen on the
south side of the river set the movement agoing and a preliminary meeting was held in the Athenaeum
over which Professor Leishman presided.”
He was at that time Regius Professor of Midwifery. At the meeting it was decided to form such a society
and a committee was appointed to draw up the necessary constitution and rules. A further meeting took
place on 17th June 1885 when these rules and the constitution were debated and ratified.
Dr William Loudon Reid, became the first president of the society. He was Professor of Midwifery at
Anderson’s College Medical School, an extramural school that prepared candidates for the conjoint
diploma. More of that anon.
There were 2 areas where there was considerable discussion - Firstly the name of the society. It was
Professor Leishman’s suggestion of the Glasgow Obstetrical and Gynaecological Society that was
adopted.
The second area of debate was what should the individuals be called, e.g., member. However the
societies in both Edinburgh and London had chosen the title, “fellow” and so this was agreed upon. Over
time this has transmogrified into “member”.
The object of the Society was the promotion of science and art in connection with midwifery and the
diseases of women and children. Great stress was laid on the presentation of fresh specimens, allowing
discussion there and then. There would also be papers read at the meetings, but the specimens would
take priority. The meetings were originally scheduled to take place on the second Wednesday of every
month, from October to June, in the Hall at the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, here in St
Vincent Street.
The inaugural meeting of the Glasgow Obstetrical and Gynaecological Society took place on 14 th October
1885, when Professor Leishman, who was designated the honorary president, chaired the meeting and
gave a brief address on the importance of such a society. At that first meeting, Joseph Coats, pathologist
to the Western Infirmary and Hospital for Sick Children, showed a case of a child with deformed ears and
eyes and he stressed the importance of pathology as an integral part of the proceedings and a pathologist
was a member of the Council from then until December 1993, when Dr. A D T Govan retired. He was not
replaced as this role was thought outdated!
Also fortuitously for the Society, Joseph Coats was, at this time, editor of the Glasgow Medical Journal
and he offered to publish the proceedings in that Journal.
The meeting ended with the president, William Reid, giving an address, entitled, “Recent Methods of
Treatment of the Asphyxia of New-Born Children.”
Many of the original members of the Society were general practitioners because at this time in Glasgow,
as in other parts of the United Kingdom, most women were delivered at home under the medical care of a
general practitioner, if required. There were even 2 or 3 general practitioners elected as presidents of the
Society between 1898 and 1932. Although the early proceedings of the Society were published in the
Glasgow Medical Journal, the record is not complete and it became a financial burden and was
discontinued. The GOGS did produce 9 volumes of transactions between 1896 and 1912, but again this
proved too costly. The proceedings did appear from time to time in the Journal of Obstetrics and
Gynaecology of the British Empire, the grey journal, but at the whim of the editor and this publication of
the business of the Society also stopped. Since then the Council of the Society has sought intermittently
to change this and to have the proceedings published regularly, but to no avail. However this year the
abstracts from the trainees’ meeting will appear in the electronic version of the Scottish Medical Journal.
The meetings continued regularly following the same pattern of the presentation of specimens, cases and
papers read. Sometimes the evenings were so full, that the meeting had to be abandoned and papers
deferred to another meeting. One meeting is recorded as having finished at 10.45pm!
During the Presidential address given in 1902, the then president reflected that “the true educative value
of a medical society consisted chiefly in the associated action which it fosters, as well as in the
development and exchange of knowledge………”
The obstetricians of the late19th and early 20th century faced many of the same problems we face in
obstetric and gynaecological practice today - haemorrhage, placenta praevia, pre- eclampsia and
eclampsia, menstrual problems, fibroids, prolapse, gynaecological cancer, sepsis, ectopic pregnancy and
miscarriage but their treatment options were severely limited. One patient even treated her prolapse by
inserting a lemon as a pessary that she changed once a month!
Much of the obstetric practice was heroic, dealing with the difficulties of childbirth arising from the rachitic
pelvis with regular recourse to destructive operations and the like.
Many of the consulting members of the Obstetrical and Gynaecological Society were also members of
some of the other scientific societies in the city, e.g., the Medico-Chirurgical Society of Glasgow or the
Southern Medical Society to name but two. Here specialist papers were also delivered and the
proceedings of these societies were also published in the Glasgow Medical Journal.
The early members of the society were much influenced by practices in Berlin, Vienna, Paris and Dublin,
often visiting these academic centres.
However, as we all know the development of the Caesarean Section operation is very much part of the
Glasgow historical obstetric scene. At one meeting in April 1887, the merits of Caesarean section were
debated. Some of the comments passed at that meeting were not very PC:
“Where a living child cannot be born per via naturales, much might be said in favour of opening the
mother’s abdomen instead of the child’s head. Though it is questionable whether in such circumstance
the child was likely to be a valuable addition to the community. The laws of heredity forbid it. Figs are not
gathered off thistles, and we were not likely to get well formed or prudent children from badly formed or
specially imprudent parents.”
Gynaecological problems were not exempt from such patronizing remarks.
In 1905 during a Society discussion on the treatment of endometritis, something that exercised our
colleagues then, the opening remarks emphasized the need for individualized treatment, the importance
of general health and education post abortion and childbirth as well as appropriate repair of injuries and
displacements of the uterus, “but above all things do not let us magnify the uterine trouble in the woman’s
mind, and so make an invalid of her.”
Reverting to thoughts of caesarean section:
It seems hard to believe that, initially, it was not thought necessary to close the uterine wound following
caesarean section. This bold suggestion was made during this debate that predated the successful
operations performed by Murdoch Cameron at the Glasgow Maternity Hospital in 1888.
The first of those was performed on 10th April 1888 and lasted 50 minutes. The patient was 4 ft. tall with a
pelvic inlet of 1.5”. The baby was a boy and weighed 6lb 2oz and was named Caesar Gordon. On the 4th
day the mother joined the doctors and matron in a toast to the baby – champagne provided by the house
surgeon – I hope our junior staff are listening!
Mum and baby went home on the 38th day, the baby weighing 8lb 12 oz. Mum’s abdominal sutures were
removed on the 25th day and she was treated with enemata on the 5th, 8th, 13th, 17th, 22nd and 35th days!
Prior to 1858, there was no compunction to take a medical degree to obtain a license to practise, except
for those who practised in Edinburgh or Glasgow. They required to complete a 3 year course of study and
pass an examination or gain a license from one of the 8 institutions in Scotland with the power to grant
medical qualifications – 5 universities – Edinburgh, Glasgow, Marischal College, Aberdeen, King’s
College, Aberdeen and St Andrews and 3 medical corporations – the Royal College of Physicians of
Edinburgh, the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of
Glasgow.
The Medical Act of 1858 changed all that, making the regulation of medical education the primary duty of
the newly formed General Medical Council. In 1859 these medical corporations arranged to grant the
double qualification of which there were 2 – LRCP&S, Edinburgh and LFPS, Glasgow. With these
qualifications, graduates could practise all branches of the profession anywhere in the UK or its
dominions. In 1884, the 3 bodies united to grant the triple Scottish qualification instead.
In 1860 the MBCM degree was instituted in Glasgow. This qualification required a 4-year course of study
on a specified curriculum and success in an examination. The MD degree then became a higher degree.
Beginning in October 1892, the course was extended to a 5-year course and the degree conferred
became the MBChB, with the master of surgery degree also becoming a higher degree.
An Association for the Higher Education for Women was formed in Glasgow in 1877 and began teaching
women students in Queen Margaret College in 1884.
Initially, the major arguments for permitting women to study medicine were to assist in overseas situations
where men were forbidden.
Indeed, in his address at the opening of Queen Margaret College, Professor John McKendrick who was
Professor of Theory of Physic or Institutes of Medicine, advised ladies to study medicine because “there
was no doubt that in India the presence of skilled women doctors was urgently required. “
Although from about 1888, women were appearing in the lists of those qualifying through the medical
corporations, it was not until 1890 that the syllabus at Queen Margaret College was expanded to include
medical subjects.
In August of that year, 5 women applied to take cases at the Maternity Hospital. The Directors of the day
thought that it would be improper for these ladies to attend cases with the “Outdoor House Surgeon” at the
Hospital – that it is junior doctor who went out into the community to attend women in labour – but instead
they attended the west end branch of the hospital established at 491 St Vincent Street in 1888.
Women students had been having instruction in the Glasgow Royal Infirmary from about the late 1880s
either in mixed or separate groups but the male students objected. In August 1892 they presented a
petition to the Governors of the hospital threatening to leave unless the women were barred. The
Governors initially concurred but this ruling was rescinded 2 months later.
Around this time too, women were permitted to join the British Medical Association.
The separate classes for the women students from Queen Margaret College remained in place until the
end of the summer session 1893. These arrangements were, of course, for the study of medicine in
general, although midwifery was one of the subjects studied.
However, in obstetrics things were also moving. In August 1892, the first woman applied to the Glasgow
Maternity Hospital for the post of house surgeon. She was unsuccessful, losing out to Dr John Martin
Munro Kerr, one of the greatest obstetricians in the early 20th century. However, she did gain her own
fame, because she was none other than Elsie Inglis, after whom the Elsie Inglis Memorial Hospital in
Edinburgh was named in 1925. The reason for not appointing a woman was that there was said to be a
lack of suitable accommodation at the hospital for a woman!
From 1893, the Glasgow Obstetrical and Gynaecological Society was one of the first societies to welcome
women into its membership. Nevertheless, it was not until 1904 that the president of the day for the first
time in the history of the Society began his presidential address - “Ladies and Gentlemen!”
The first woman member of the Obstetrical Society was Dr Alice Janet McLaren, MD. She had qualified
MB with 1st class honours Medicine in 1890 and BS in 1891 at the London School of Medicine for Women,
studying also in Dublin and Vienna.
She proceeded to an MD degree in London in 1893. She was the first woman gynaecologist in Glasgow,
the joint founder and first medical superintendent of Redlands Hospital for Women. In 1896 she was
elected to the Council of the Society, a role she fulfilled for 2 years. During her membership, she was a
regular participant. She was appointed assistant surgeon at Glasgow Samaritan Hospital, the first women
to be elected to the visiting staff of a hospital in Glasgow. She acted as assistant to the surgeon at
Glasgow Lock Hospital for Venereal Disease as well as being consulting gynaecologist to Glasgow Mental
Hospital. For over 40 years she carried on a thriving private practice, retiring from active work in 1932.
She died in Crail in 1945.
The same fate of being unsuccessful in obtaining a Hospital post in Obstetrics befell Dr Elizabeth Pace,
who applied to be the Assistant Obstetric Physician at the Maternity Hospital in December 1896.
Like Alice McLaren, Elizabeth Pace had studied at the London School of Medicine for Women and in
Vienna. She qualified in 1891 with second-class honours and a medal in obstetric medicine, gaining her
MD from London in 1895. She worked in the Bellahouston Dispensary associated with the Victoria
Infirmary.
By 1897, it was thought that it would be appropriate to have a female graduate to act as Outdoor House
Surgeon at the West End Branch of the Maternity Hospital. Part of her remit would be to supervise the
lady medical students at their first 3 cases. The first incumbent of this post was Jessie Hawkesworth
Smith who qualified from Glasgow in 1897. However, she only spent a few months in post before taking
up a medical missionary position in northwest India. As far as I can find, she was never a member of the
Obstetrical Society.
The Glasgow Obstetrical and Gynaecological Society took up the cudgels on behalf of the lady medical
students because of the discrimination that was prevalent at the time.
Dr. John Edgar, who had pipped Elizabeth Pace for the post at the Maternity Hospital went on to become
Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Anderson’s College Medical School. In May 1898, he gave a
paper to the Obstetrical Society entitled, “Is there room for improvement in our present mode of clinical
instruction in midwifery?” This paper prompted considerable debate – the need for residential
accommodation at the hospital, appropriate examinations. Marion Gilchrist led the case for improvements
for women students. She asserted that the women students had to go out to cases not with a qualified
medical officer but with a nurse to their first 2 cases and afterwards attend alone – see one, do one then
get on with it! There was no hospital-based teaching for the women students. She maintained that it
should be compulsory for a student to take a month’s training in obstetrics in a hospital before qualifying.
She claimed that there was no reason why there should not be 2 good maternity hospitals in Glasgow. A
committee of GOGS was established, to discuss this proposal.
Marion Gilchrist was one of the first 2 women medical graduates from the University of Glasgow and in
Scotland. She graduated MBCM (highly commended) in 1894. Today, she would be known as a political
activist. There was a suggestion that women students should be supervised more closely than male
students! She was president of the student representative council of the Queen Margaret College, who
opposed this. I quote from part of her argument.
“There is at present a very widespread belief that the education of women is of a more dilettante and less
thorough character than that of men; and to those of us who intend to earn our livelihood in the different
professions, this idea is very harmful. We have reason to suppose that any supervision of the women
students which is not authorized by University ordinances for the men students, would seriously
strengthen this belief in the minds of the public.”
And as for the treatment of female medical students, she championed them against the establishment of
the day who felt that it was improper for men and women to be taught together and suggested the
development of medical schools for women students. She argued for mixed classes in most if not all
subjects. She felt that it was important for women to enjoy the same facilities as the male students in
preparing for a career in medicine. She said, “We believe that the time is not very far distant when many
of the medical classes at Gilmorehill will be thrown open to men and women alike. Some professors have
chosen to teach women and it is not likely that women will long rest satisfied with the greater part of that
teaching being relegated to assistants.”
From these first women medical graduates from Glasgow University in 1894, there followed a regular
intake, with 138 graduating between then and 1911.
Some of these regularly attended meetings of the Glasgow Obstetrical and Gynaecological Society.
Marion Gilchrist and Elizabeth Pace served on Council from1898 until1901.
However, the first woman to present at the Society was one Dr Jane Buchanan Henderson, a general
practitioner. She too had studied at the London School of Medicine for Women and in Paris. She gained
the Scottish triple qualification in 1890 and was awarded an MD from Brussels in 1891.
Her first sortie onto the floor of the Society was in 1900, when she demonstrated some new instruments
and their uses. She also reported to the Society on a visit she had paid to Toronto, in a paper entitled,” A
Pure Milk Supply: Visit to a Hygienic Dairy Farm near Toronto”. She was elected to the Council in 1901
and served until 1903. She resigned her membership, thereafter, when she moved to South Africa where
she worked as a medical officer in a military camp during the Boer War.
Perhaps one of the most famous women to be a member of our Society was Dr later Dame Anne Louise
McIlroy. She was born into a medical family in Ballycastle in Northern Ireland - possibly the Society’s first
link with Ulster! She came to Glasgow to study medicine in 1894 and graduated MBChB in 1898 followed
by an MD with commendation 2 years later. She undertook postgraduate training in Europe, specializing
in obstetrics and gynaecology. On her return she was appointed to the Victoria Infirmary as a
gynaecological surgeon.
In the early days of the Society, the names of those attending appeared in the minute book, so we know
that from February 1902, she was a regular attender, making active contributions. Her first major role in
the Society was as Reporting secretary; it was her duty to prepare information about the Society’s
meetings for publication. She held this post from 1905 -1907, when she became the Editor of the
Transactions. From this role she graduated to the role of Secretary in 1909.
She was elected junior vice president at the AGM of 1911 and senior VP for session 1912-1913. The
meetings of the Society were suspended during the Great War. At the outbreak of that war, she and other
female medical graduates offered their services to the government. However, they were turned down
because the battlefield was not thought a suitable place for a woman. However, like others she
volunteered overseas and worked in France, Serbia and Salonika where she established a training school
for nurses and oversaw the opening of the only orthopaedic centre in the Eastern Army. She completed
her war service as a surgeon at the Royal Army Medical Corps hospital in Constantinople.
In 1921, she was appointed Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the London (Royal Free
Hospital) School of Medicine for Women.
She was the first woman to be appointed to a medical chair in the UK.
Dame Louise was an important figure in the foundation of our College. She became a founder member of
the College and the only female representative on the first Council. She was recognized as being at the
forefront of her profession - a wonderful teacher and prolific researcher.
Her services to the profession were recognized in 1929 when she was created Dame Commander of the
Order of the British Empire.
She retired to Turnberry, in Ayrshire, in 1934 and died in a Glasgow Hospital in February 1968, aged 93.
Following the cessation of hostilities, the Glasgow Obstetrical and Gynaecological Society recommenced
its meetings in 1921, but attendances were poor and so no meetings were held between spring 1922 and
October 1924. Save for a break during the Second World War, the Society has gone from strength to
strength.
Despite a growing number of women in the membership ranks, we have to wait until session 1938-1939
for the appearance of another female vice president. Alison Mary Hunter was elected as Junior VP for
that session and continued in the role for another year after the recommencement of the meetings of the
Society in 1947. She had graduated in 1918 and became assistant Muirhead Professor at the GRI and
Redlands Hospital.
Our next female VP was Dr Ellen Morton who qualified in Glasgow in 1922 and was awarded the FRCOG
in 1939. She was a consultant obstetrician at GRMH and gynaecologist at Redlands Hospital. She was
elected VP at the AGM in 1952, a role that she fulfilled until 1955.
At this time, Council invited her to become president, but sadly she declined and Professor David Fyfe
Anderson was elected instead for the 1956-1958 sessions.
Dr Morton was elected an honorary member of the Society in 1968 and honoured with an Honorary
Fellowship during the centenary celebrations in 1986, the first and only woman to date to be so honoured.
She died in 1990.
We had to wait for more than 30 years before there was a lady president of our society. After being
elected Junior VP at the AGM in 1984, Jean Struthers rose through the senior VP position to that of
President in 1988. She graduated from Glasgow in 1954, just around the time when Ellen Morton was
turning down the role of President.
After basic training at the GRI and Rottenrow, Jean obtained an SHO post at the Victoria Infirmary and
Robroyston Hospital, followed by a registrar post at Greenock and District Hospitals, before senior
registrar training in Glasgow. Her consultant post was at the Royal Alexandra Hospital, Paisley.
There have been several women who have served the Society as treasurers and secretaries over the
years and currently, as well as serving on Council, but it was another 8 years before the next women
president was appointed. Helen McEwan took up office in October 1996. Although the second female
president of our society she was the first female president of the Royal Medico-Chirurgical Society of
Glasgow, in 1984-1985, a society which predated the Obstetrical Society by some 40 odd years.
Helen McEwan was a Glasgow trained obstetrician and gynaecologist who became a very distinguished
consultant at GRMH and GRI.
Again 10 years elapsed before Laura Cassidy took up the reins as the third lady President.
She is, of course, still contributing to the Council deliberations as Immediate Past President. Those of you
who heard her Presidential address 2 years ago will know that she was well travelled, professionally, from
Glasgow to India, Bhutan and Japan, collecting appropriate medical qualifications along the way, before
resuming training in Glasgow, researching HPV and cervical cancer. Her consultant post was in
Inverclyde, but latterly Argyll and Clyde came together with Greater Glasgow and she practised at the
RAH in Paisley, like our very first lady president. Laura also served on the RCOG Council, on various
College committees and
as the Chair of the Scottish Committee of the RCOG.
That then means that we have travelled the full circle…
However, I should like to leave you with a couple of interesting reflections from the transactions of the
Society from 1902 regarding the preparation of the patient and operating team prior to caesarean section
taken from a presentation of the 19 C/S operations performed at the Maternity Hospital in 1901 made by
Dr. Munro Kerr:
The patient should be shaved, bowels emptied and a suitable diet given;
Turpentine, alcohol, soap and water should be used to cleanse the pubic area and the abdomen;
If time permits, dressings of 1 in 40 carbolic are to be applied to the abdomen for 24-48 hours before the
operation and the vagina and fornices thoroughly washed with swabs, soap and Lysol solution.
As for those taking part in the operation:
Hands and arms should be cleansed with soap and water, turpentine, alcohol and 1 in 1000 solution of
perchloride – this takes 10 minutes;
3 assistants were required – a chief assistant; a needle threader; an instruments handler and a nurse to
look after the swabs.
This was all before rubber gloves came into regular usage. That was not for another 4 or 5 years in 1906!
Spare a thought for our forebears! Hand hygiene remains just as important in modern obstetric and
gynaecological practice but how
much simpler it is for us today.
I trust that this address has given you a flavour of our Society from its inception until now. I believe it
continues to be an appropriate forum in which to exchange ideas and to meet colleagues from around the
region and elsewhere. Discussions are ongoing to revitalize the Society for the needs of the 21 st century
obstetrician and gynaecologist. I hope that the Society will continue to thrive and who knows, I may be
able to participate in the 150th anniversary celebrations in 2035-2036!
In conclusion, I would like to thank the following who have assisted in the research ahead of this talk:
THANK YOU!
The vote of thanks (in verse) was given by Dr Kennedy.
Dr Hanretty thanked the sponsors for their generous support and reminded the society that the
next meeting of the society is the Visiting Meeting in Glasgow Royal Infirmary / Princess Royal
Maternity on 18th April, 2012.
…………………………………………………President