OVERCOMING THE ODDS Brief Biographies of Women Scientists - Great ...
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
OVERCOMING THE ODDS
B r i e f B i o g ra p h i e s o f W o m e n S c i e n t i s t s
A Lockdown Project, 2020
During lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, members of Soroptimist
International of Middlesbrough compiled this booklet about women scientists and
Middlesbrough other professionals and the contribution they had made to expanding knowledge in
a range of scientific fields
Founded in 1921, Soroptimist International is a global
volunteer movement working together to transform the
lives of women and girls. Our network has around 72,000
members in 121 countries. Our mission is to transform the
lives and status of women and girls through education,
empowerment and enabling opportunities.
You are free to use any information from this book which
we hope will be used to promote the cause of Soroptimist
COLOPHON International. This is a not-for-profit project. Any proceeds OVERCOMING THE ODDS
will be divided to support the ongoing work of our
organisation and one of our current charities.
B r i e f B i o g ra p h i e s o f W o m e n S c i e n t i s t s
This book was first published in 2020 by Soroptimist
International Middlesbrough The book makes use of information from Wikipedia.
www.sigbi.org/middlesbrough Grateful thanks are given to this much used but, in our
opinion, undervalued resource. Most images used in the
Designed by Two Faces Design, 12 Upleatham Street, book are in the public domain and therefore also freely
Saltburn-by-the-Sea, North Yorkshire TS12 1LQ available. Photographs for item 12 are not for reuse and
are published here by kind permission of the Child
Printed by Solopress, 9 Stock Road, Southend-on-Sea, Migrants Trust.
Essex, SS2 5QF
INTRODUCTION
HERTHA AYRTON MARY JACKSON
11 23
JUNE ALMEIDA
01
At the start of the great COVID-19 pandemic of 2020, we Of course, we have already seen women rise to positions of 12 SUSAN BLACK
24 DOROTHY VAUGHAN
were all urged to stay at home to protect the NHS and save responsibility and authority but there is still a long way to go. 02 SUSAN MICHIE
lives; group meetings and social gatherings were banned. This volume pays our personal tributes to outstanding
13 DELIA DERBYSHIRE
25 KATHERINE JOHNSON
SARAH GILBERT
Members of Middlesbrough Soroptimists considered what women, past and present. We hope it encourages women
03
they could do to keep everyone engaged until normal life and girls to aim high and be the best they can be. The world 14 ADA LOVELACE
26 MARGARET BURBIDGE
was restored. They agreed to put together a book about will be a better place for it. 04 ELIZABETH ANDERSON
women scientists and the contribution they had made to GERTRUDE BELL ANGELA MCLEAN
15 27
expanding knowledge in a range of scientific fields. These 05 LILIAN LINDSAY
would be people who had personally impressed them. Each MILLICENT FAWCETT SOUMYA SWAMINATHAN
INTRODUCTION 16 28
contributor would say why this woman was so important to 06 FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE
them. The work carried out by these women, in some cases,
As we endeavour to be a multi-cultural and multi-racial
17 MARGARET HUMPHREYS
29 RACHEL CARSON
was directly relevant to what we were experiencing during
organisation, we are especially pleased that this volume 07 DEVI SRIDHAR DOROTHY HODGKIN
these unique times. ANGELA MERKEL
features women from several countries and ethnic 18 30
Soroptimists worldwide promote women’s position in
backgrounds. Some scientists have only come to the fore 08 MARY SEACOLE MARIE CURIE
society. They want to see women valued as much as men K.K. SHAILAJA
during the period of this pandemic and deserve to be 19 31
and succeeding in any field they choose. To quote from
recognised for their vital contributions at this time. 09 SABRINA COHEN-HATTON
SAMEERA MOUSSA
Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, ‘Women feel just as men feel;
Our research has been very revealing. There are so many ROSALIND FRANKLIN
20 KERRINE BRYAN 32
they need exercise for their faculties, and a field for their 10
women scientists of note. We have had to be selective in KATHRYN SULLIVAN OUR CONTRIBUTORS
efforts as much as their brothers do... it is narrow-minded 21
those we have chosen. We hope these brief accounts will
in their more privileged fellow creatures to say that they
encourage readers to explore more fully the lives of these ANNE PRESS
ought to confine themselves to making puddings and 22
amazing women.
knitting stockings, to playing on the piano and
embroidering bags’. CONTENTS
01 02
At the time of writing, the world remains in the midst of a virus pandemic. It is a coronavirus. Many people Throughout the coronavirus pandemic of 2020, British politicians leading the response are relying heavily on
have become sick. Many have died. Normal life has come to a standstill for months. Many small businesses scientists. In fact, they have said they are following the science. Scientists and science-based professionals of
are at risk of going under. During this time, I have come across the name of Dr June Almeida. She, in 1964, all kinds are needed, some dealing with the immediacy of illness, some with the collection and interpretation
discovered the first human coronavirus, of the same type as the one affecting so many people across the world of data, some with finding a vaccination or cure, others with finding testing and tracing techniques.
in 2020. The name of this new virus is SARS-CoV-2, standing for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Technologists are also needed to produce new equipment, such as ventilators, at speed. Health behaviourists
Coronavirus 2. It is the strain of coronavirus that causes the illness coronavirus disease 2019, or COVID-19. It are also essential, as some human behaviours need to be changed very quickly and those behaviours
emerged in China in late 2019 and is genetically similar to coronaviruses that affect bats.. maintained for a period of time, then eased. For example, frequent handwashing and social distancing has had
The severity of the illness varies, with many cases being fatal. Children are less seriously affected, and less to become the norm. Getting the public to accept and continue with these measures is crucial to the
likely to acquire the disease. containment of the epidemic. An understanding of human psychology and its application to a crisis situation is
therefore essential.
Dr Almeida came from humble beginnings. Born in Amongst the many scientific minds that the government
1930, the daughter of a bus driver, she was brought
THE FIRST HUMAN is relying upon is Susan Michie, Professor of Health
ADVISOR IN BEHAVIOURAL
up in a Glasgow tenement. She left school at 16 and
CORONAVIRUS DISCOVERED Psychology at University College London. She became
SCIENCE
got a job at Glasgow Royal Infirmary as a laboratory part of the COVID-19 Behavioural Science Advisory
technician. She later moved to London and married JUNE DALZIEL Group, a sub-group of SAGE, the government’s SUSAN
Enriques Almeida, a Venezuelan artist. Later they Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies.
moved to Toronto with their daughter. June began ALMEIDA Professor Michie took a degree at Oxford in MICHIE
working at the Ontario Cancer Institute. It was here that Experimental Psychology and later studied clinical
she developed her skills in using an electron virologist psychology. She is a chartered clinical psychologist health
microscope which enabled better visualisation of
1930–2007
and health psychologist. She is Director of UCL’s Centre psychologist
viruses. Back in London, in 1964, she identified the first for Behavioural Change Research Group. Her research
human coronavirus. has encompassed several fields of psychology,
1955–
Dr Almeida was awarded a doctorate at the including interventions to change behaviour. She has She also asserted that this advice to the public
Postgraduate Medical School in London. Her work served as President of the European Health Psychology needs to be supported environmentally. Hence, we
helps speed up our understanding of the virus which is Society and Chair of the British Psychological Society’s have seen hand sanitisers installed almost everywhere
now devastating the world. A true pioneer, Dr Almeida Division of Health Psychology. She became a Fellow of and stickers on floors reminding the public to keep two
died in 2007 aged 77. the British Psychological Society in 2001. metres apart.
Professor Michie has, amongst other things, strongly She is an important media spokesperson on COVID-
advocated regular handwashing as a means to control 19. Alongside her academic work she is involved in
the virus. Trade Unionism and is a member of the British
Photo
COVID-19 virus Communist Party.
03
As with all viruses, a vaccine is a high priority to prevent further or repeated spread. This is imperative in the In June 2020, the Oxford vaccine trial looked set to
2020 coronavirus outbreak across the world as the virus is highly transmissible and, whilst many people only
be successful. They would know by late August.
have mild illness, others are seriously affected and many have died. Older people, those with serious
underlying health conditions and people from the BAME communities are at greatest risk. So, across the world Manufacturing processes had already been set up in
there is a race to develop an effective vaccine. anticipation. The manufacturer, AstraZeneca, had
agreed to do this for zero profit and had plans in
place to produce 300 million doses. On 20 July it
was reported that the vaccine being tested against
coronavirus both stimulated an immune response
Sarah Gilbert is Professor of Vaccinology at the and was safe. But we are still waiting.
University of Oxford, a specialist in the development of
A VITAL VACCINATION Because of her groundbreaking and vital research
vaccines against influenza and new viruses. She Professor Gilbert featured in The Times Science
Search for a vaccine
graduated with a BSc in Biological Sciences from the Power List in May 2020. An article about her also
featured in The Indian Express on 24th July 2020.
University of East Anglia and then was awarded a PhD SARAH
from the University of Hull for research into the genetics She has managed to combine all this with being the
and biochemistry of a type of yeast. In 1994 she GILBERT mother of triplets! She gives credit to her very
began to carry out research on malaria. She became a supportive partner.
Reader in Vaccinology at Oxford in 2004 and vaccinologist
Professor in 2010.
She then started work on the creation of novel flu 1962–
vaccinations. In particular, she looked at vaccines
which embed a pathogenic protein inside a safe virus.
Such viral vaccines can be used against viral diseases,
malaria and cancer. The vaccines she worked on,
instead of stimulating an antibody response, trigger the
immune system to create T-cells that are specific to the
invading virus. She now leads the work to produce a
vaccine against the current coronavirus. Her aim is to
develop her research team to be the leaders in vaccine
research in the world.
View of All Souls College, Oxford University
COVID-19 virus
04
Doctors are at the forefront of the response to the 2020 coronavirus outbreak as they try to treat the many All three women were to achieve fame; Elizabeth in In 1870 she obtained a
patients with this new disease. Many work long hours. Some have transferred from their usual speciality to
medicine; Millicent in the suffrage movement and degree in medicine from
support intensive care. Some doctors have died.
By 2020, women are well accepted in the medical profession. It was not always so. Emily as the co-founder of England’s first women’s the Sorbonne in Paris,
college – Girton, Cambridge. which admitted women
Elizabeth’s route to becoming a doctor was an students. She learned
Garrett Anderson as Mayor of
arduous one as women were not in those days French in order to Aldeburgh, November 1908
expected to practise medicine, and several medical achieve this. She then
colleges rejected her purely on those grounds. To became the first woman in Britain to be appointed to
Elizabeth Garrett Anderson was the first woman to circumvent this, Garrett studied related subjects such a medical post – at the East London Hospital for
qualify in Britain as a physician and surgeon. She
AGAINST THE ODDS as anatomy and physiology. She was admitted to Children. In 1874 she co-founded the London School
overcame tremendous odds to achieve this. The Society of Apothecaries and, after further of Medicine for Women and became a lecturer
She was born in London, the second of 11 children. The studies, she was licensed by this society to practise there, the only medical school to offer courses for
medicine. Following that, the Society amended its women. This later became The Royal Free Hospital,
family moved to Aldeburgh, Suffolk where her father ELIZABETH GARRETT
built the mansion, Alde House. Elizabeth’s education regulations to exclude any further women. It was now part of the medical school of University College
was varied. She first learned from her mother, then she ANDERSON only in 1876 that a new Medical Act allowed British London. In 1873 she gained membership of the
was taught by a governess and later attended a medical authorities to license all qualified applicants British Medical Association. This later excluded
private school. She complained that she was not taught doctor regardless of their gender. Being unable to practise women for several years.
science and maths. When she was 18, with her sister in a hospital, Garrett set up in private practice in As well as this extremely demanding and pioneering
she visited some friends in Gateshead and met Emily 1836–1917 London in 1865. Business was slow at first, but a career, in 1871 Garrett married James Anderson and
Davies, who was to become a lifelong friend. When cholera outbreak led to people being happy to see a had three children, one of whom died in infancy from
America’s first woman doctor, Elizabeth Blackwell, doctor of either meningitis. Her older daughter, Louisa, eventually
visited London, Elizabeth Garrett arranged to meet her. gender. By then she became a doctor.
Emily Davies and Garrett, meeting once at Alde had opened the St. Elizabeth was also active in the suffrage movement.
House, talked about women’s rights and Mary’s Dispensary After retiring from medical practice she returned to
employment opportunities. They selected careers for for Women and Aldeburgh to live and there, in 1908, she became
themselves and Garrett’s young sister, Millicent, who Children which had mayor of the town, the first woman mayor in
later became Millicent Fawcett. Garrett was to open up 3,000 new patients England. She died in 1917. There remain to this day
the medical profession to women; Davies, university in the first year. many buildings and institutions named after her.
education; and Fawcett, politics and votes for women. Garrett Anderson with Emmeline Pankhurst on
Black Friday, 18 November 1910
05
During the lockdown, most dental practices are closed and only emergencies can be dealt with. It has been She set up practice first in London. She married
reported that some people are pulling out their own teeth!
Robert in 1905 and moved back to Edinburgh in
I thought it interesting to study Britain’s first female dentist and found an excellent resume in the English
Heritage members’ magazine of July 2019. Lilian featured in this publication because she has been celebrated practice with him. She and Robert returned to
with a blue plaque (very appropriate for a dentist!). London in 1920 and lived for 15 years in a flat
above the British Dental Association headquarters in
Russell Square.
Lilian focused on research and published many
papers. She also developed the BDA’s library from
Lilian (born Murray, the third of eleven children) 360 books to 10,000 and collected objects to
attended Camden School for Girls, North London. She
FIRST QUALIFIED WOMAN create a museum of dentistry. Russell Square, London
defied her headteacher, who had decided that Lilian
DENTIST IN BRITAIN She learned French, German, Latin and some old
should become a teacher of the deaf and dumb. English and Spanish to help with her research.
Lilian’s interview for a place at The National Dental LILIAN Robert Lindsay died in 1930. Lilian then became
Hospital in 1892 was a bit like some of the practice sub-editor of The British Dental Journal for 20 years.
during the pandemic lockdown of 2020. The Dean LINDSAY CBE In 1946 she became the first female president of the
interviewed her through an open window. This, BDA and was awarded the CBE. She died in 1960,
however, was not to avoid the transmission of any dentist aged 88. Truly a life of achievement!
infection, but because he thought her presence in the A blue plaque was placed in 2013 on the wall of her
building would be a distraction to the male students! 1871–1960 childhood home at 3 Hungerford Place, Islington.
Those were the days! This house was later demolished in a redevelopment
Lilian was not admitted to this Dental Hospital. Instead, project. The plaque was rescued and preserved by
she went to the more enlightened Edinburgh Dental English Heritage and is now to be found,
Hospital and School. Even here she faced opposition. appropriately, at 23 Russell Square, headquarters of
One of the staff remarked ‘I am afraid, madam, that the BDA.
you are taking the bread out of some poor fellow’s
mouth’. At Edinburgh she met her future husband,
Robert, a member of the teaching staff. She also
Early dental surgery
gained the Wilson Medal for dental surgery and
pathology. In 1895 she graduated and became
Britain’s first qualified female dentist.
Edinburgh cityscape
06
Nurses, along with their medical and paramedical colleagues, are at the front line in dealing with the 2020 Conditions were so bad that a prefabricated hospital promoting and organising the nursing profession.
pandemic. Public health practice has become more important than ever before.
was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel and Today she is well remembered. The Nightingale
Most people know of Florence Nightingale as the pioneer of modern, professional nursing. Fewer people are
aware of her leadership in public health. The date of her birth, 12 May 1820, is exactly 200 years before the shipped to the Dardanelles…. an early precursor of Pledge is taken by new nurses and the Florence
pandemic was at its height in the UK, and 2020 has been designated The International Year of the Nurse and the Nightingale Hospitals rapidly built in the 2020 Nightingale Medal is the highest distinction a nurse
Midwife, in her honour.
pandemic in the UK. In the Crimea she reduced the can achieve. Hospitals traditionally had Nightingale
death rate of soldiers from 42% to 2%. It was here wards and the pandemic brought forth Nightingale
that she acquired her nickname ‘The Lady with the hospitals, prisons and even courts of justice. The i
Lamp’. newspaper reported on 20th July 2020 that some of
Florence was born in the Italian city of Florence to a Florence established training programmes in the UK her letters, written between 1892 and 1894 had
wealthy British family who moved back to England in
PIONEER OF NURSING AND for nurses. She introduced trained nurses into the been unearthed and were expected to fetch
1821. Florence was well educated in history,
PUBLIC HEALTH workhouses of that era and took them with her to the thousands of pounds at auction.
mathematics, Italian, classical literature and Crimea. In 1907 she became the first woman to be awarded
It is salient to reflect on how so many of her ideas the Order of Merit. A blue plaque in her memory is
philosophy. She had a remarkable ability for collecting FLORENCE
and analysing data. She was clearly a young lady of and principles have been reflected in the in South Street, Mayfair and there is a statue of her
great ability, and her parents were shocked when she NIGHTINGALE management of our modern-day pandemic. They in Waterloo Place, London.
declared that she wanted to become a nurse. It was not also inform some of the UN’s 17 Sustainable
then the profession it is now. social reformer, Development Goals.
On a practical level, she ordered supplies for
In 1853 she became superintendent of a small hospital
in Harley Street. In 1854 a cholera outbreak occurred
statistician & hospitals, reformed the workhouses and was a
in Soho, London. She volunteered at The Middlesex nurse strong advocate of hand washing. She also
recognised the role of ‘home nurses’ in supporting
Hospital. She dismissed the idea of micro-organisms as
being responsible for infectious disease, then a
1820–1910 families in the community.
developing theory. She was a strong believer in the Her social reforms included advocating hunger relief
benefits of fresh air and cleanliness. Working as a in India, abolishing prostitution laws that were harsh
nurse in the Crimea between 1854 and 1856 in the to women and encouraging the greater participation Nightingale receiving the wounded at Scutari,
of women in the workforce. by Jerry Barrett
face of lack of medication and food, poor hygiene and
mass infection, she demonstrated a 50% reduction in Florence had several suitors but rejected marriage in
mortality in soldiers who benefitted from good favour of her calling. She spent her later years
ventilation, sanitation, cleanliness and a better diet.
07
The global pandemic of 2020 is not only causing high levels of illness, death, pressure on health services and and link with the UK one. The proceedings and
isolation, it seems also to cause division and anger. There are differences of opinion about where the virus
membership of the Scottish SAGE are published and
originated, how best to control it and treat it, who is most at risk and what individual freedoms should be
curtailed and for how long. Key personnel are not only those at the front-line of care and treatment but those thus are transparent.
who specialise in public health. Devi Sridhar served on the Scottish COVID-19 Advisory Group. As a result of Professor Sridhar has had a high public profile
expressing her views about the pandemic she was dubbed a ‘so-called expert’ and began to receive serious
abuse on social media for what some have deemed to be political statements. during the pandemic, appearing regularly on
various news programmes. She is a member of
Lyiola Solanke’s Black Professors Forum. She serves
on the editorial board of the journal Public Health.
Devi Sridhar was born in Miami to Indian parents. She Amongst her several publications is Governing
graduated in Biology from the University of Miami and
EXPERTISE IN PUBLIC HEALTH Global Health: Who Runs the World and Why?
subsequently gained an MPhil and DPhil from the
AT A TIME OF CRISIS
Ebola epidemic, West Africa
University of Oxford Global Economic Governance
Programme. Her research focused on malnutrition in DEVI She and a co-worker published a recent blog ‘Why
India. In 2007 she produced a book The Battle against
Hunger. SRIDHAR Scotland’s slow and steady approach to COVID-19
is working’ in which she described the Scottish
In 2011 she became Associate Professor in global
health politics at Oxford. She serves on the World public health government’s strategy for dealing with the pandemic.
Though challenges remain, they are working towards
Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on the health
industry. She started research on the rise of public-
professor a zero-COVID-19 future. In July 2020 they were
private partnerships in global health governance and 1984– working to reduce community transmission, meaning
that the main threat would come from people
suggested that their non-transparent accountability and
entering the country. They have built up an effective
effectiveness should be investigated. She worked on
Test and Protect system, so that people can be tested
the international response to the West African Ebola
and, if positive, isolated and their contacts traced,
Virus epidemic. She established ten essential reforms to
not through an app but by building up existing public Parliament building, Edinburgh
prevent and respond to the next pandemic. In 2014 at
health capacity in local Health Boards. The Scottish
age 30 she was promoted to full Professor and Chair
government also established its own Scientific
at the University of Edinburgh and became the
Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) to parallel
founding Director of the Global Health Governance
programme. She has advised the Scottish Government
on how to deal with the coronavirus pandemic.
Ebola virus
08
When Nurse Practitioner and Soroptimist Geraldine Nuttall was invited to contribute to this lockdown project, Undeterred, Mary raised her own funds to pay for Mary travelled back to Jamaica before returning to
an obvious choice of subject was Mary Seacole. However, none of us could have predicted how poignantly
her passage. Her plan was to build a hotel which England and offering her services at the Indian
significant that choice would turn out to be, given the murder of George Floyd in the US and the rise of the
Black Lives Matter campaign here in the UK. would provide good food to sustain the officers. In Rebellion in 1857 and the Franco Prussian War in
the event, she set up an informal clinic where she 1870, but she was not able to travel.
applied the traditional Caribbean herbal remedies When Mary died in 1881, she was buried in Kensal
which her mother had taught her. Although not a Green Catholic Cemetery in London and simply
trained medic, records showed that Mary was held passed from people’s memories.
in high regard by the troops on the frontline who However, Mary’s contribution to nursing was finally
Mary Seacole was born in 1805 in Jamaica, which recorded anecdotal evidence of her work. celebrated in 2004 when she was voted one of the
was then under British rule. Her Scottish father was
ONE OF THE GREATEST The conditions were awful and ten times as many greatest Black Britons in history. A blue plaque
serving in the British Army and her Jamaican mother
BLACK BRITONS IN HISTORY deaths were through disease as were through war marking her London home and a statue outside St.
was a practitioner of traditional Caribbean herbal wounds. Mary treated soldiers on both sides of the Thomas’s Hospital were erected in her memory.
conflict and refused to take payment for her work. Mary is now remembered as a nurse who used her
medicine, a skill that she passed on to her daughter. MARY
The family ran a boarding house for injured soldiers When Mary returned to London after the war, she caring skills to alleviate human suffering rather than
and, using her business skills, in 1851 Mary moved to SEACOLE was destitute. Mary survived thanks to the efforts of as a highly qualified person who saved lives.
Panama and opened a restaurant. Whilst there, Mary the troops she had helped who showed their Nevertheless, she bravely did what she did at great
successfully treated victims of cholera with traditional nurse gratitude for her services by raising money to help personal cost and risk to herself. She changed the
remedies. her and from the proceeds from the sale of her world through small kindnesses and was an
Being of mixed race, Mary and her family had few civil
1805–1881 biography The Wonderful Adventures of Mrs inspiration to others.
rights – they could not vote, hold public office or enter Seacole in Many Lands. Her place in history is now assured and she will not
the professions. This would possibly explain why Mary be forgotten. In July 2020, the i newspaper reported
never received formal training. In 1836, Mary married that a bust of her was about to go to auction and
Edwin Seacole but, sadly, the marriage was brief, as was expected to fetch £700 to £1000. It was later
he died in 1844. In 1854, at the age of 49, hearing reported that her face is being considered to be
about the Crimean conflict between Russia and allied represented on British coins. So far, no-one from the
forces including the British, Mary travelled to London to BAME communities has appeared on our coins or
offer her services as a nurse. Every authority she banknotes!
approached refused her offer. Historians still speculate
over whether this was because of her race, her age, or Mary Seacole statue, St Thomas's Hospital
her lack of formal qualifications.09
I first read about this lady in a magazine during the lockdown in April 2020. This particular publication, Candis, Her particular area of interest was how stress
tends to highlight each month a woman of outstanding achievement. I found the story of Sabrina Cohen-
impacts on our decision-making processes.
Hatton remarkable.
The pandemic we face in 2020 has caused enormous trauma to so many people – patients, relatives, hospital She has used this training to research the choices we
staff, carers, ambulance crews and many others who have seen illness, death and distress on a scale not seen make in the heat of the moment. Her findings suggest
in recent times. Dr Cohen-Hatton’s research is especially relevant to this.
that we rely on ‘gut instinct’, based on memories
which may be buried deep within the subconscious.
This has contributed to the training of fire officers
enabling them to operate at a high level of situation
Sabrina was born in South Wales. Her mother was of awareness.
Jewish heritage and her father Moroccan, born in
A REMARKABLE LIFE Her first book, The Heat of the Moment, was
Israel. When she was 15 her father died from a brain published in 2019 by Penguin. She has gained many
tumour. Her life then became chaotic and she ended awards and honours and is an ambassador for The
Big Issue, which she believes saved her life.
up at 15 living on the streets, studying for her GCSEs SABRINA
and selling The Big Issue. This lady has shown great tenacity in achieving her
She suffered antisemitic attacks. She sometimes slept in COHEN-HATTON ambitions. She attributes this trait to her grandmother
derelict buildings or in a van. She managed to scrape who, in Morocco in 1948, had her head hacked
together enough money for a deposit on a flat and at
neuropsychologist open with a machete during an anti-Jewish
18 she joined the Fire Service, becoming the only 1984– massacre. She was found alive by her husband
underneath a pile of bodies in a morgue. She
Firefighter
woman firefighter at her station. She is now, at only 36
and 5ft 1”, a Chief Fire Officer. She is married, with survived!
one daughter.
Her husband is also a Fire Officer. He was once
involved in a major incident where he could easily
have died and someone else was severely injured.
Sabrina attended this incident and was so relieved to
find that her husband was unharmed. This, and
learning that 80% of industrial accidents are due to
human error, caused her to study psychology at night.
She eventually completed a PhD in neuropsychology.
Fire fighting Homelessness10
I became interested in Rosalind Franklin through the enthusiasm of a friend, herself a scientist and a feminist, Franklin resigned after one year and went on to In 1953 Franklin transferred to Birkbeck College
who has long been an advocate of Rosalind Franklin’s work and is quick to point out that it was actually she, a
become an assistant research officer with the British where she was recruited by John Desmond Burnal, a
woman and an accomplished crystallographer, who first developed X-ray diffraction images of DNA which led to
the discovery of the DNA double helix structure. As a result of that discovery, three male colleagues: James Coal Utilisation Research Association where she crystallographer who was known for promoting
Watson, Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1962. studied the porosity of coal and gained her PhD in women crystallographers. In 1954, as a senior
Franklin had died in 1958 of ovarian cancer aged just 37 and Watson had suggested that she be awarded the
Nobel Prize for Chemistry posthumously but, at that time, the Nobel Committee did not make posthumous 1945. When war broke out, she volunteered as an researcher, Franklin met Aaron Klug and began a
nominations. Air Raid Warden. successful collaboration.
During the coronavirus lockdown, I have had the time to write something of her life and work, so that she may
Franklin worked both in London and Paris where she When her research grant from the Agricultural
become better known.
developed a love of travel and of all things French. Research Council expired in 1957, Franklin was
Rosalind Elsie Franklin was born in North London in In 1946 with the help of her friend, Adrienne Weill, a granted a one-year extension.
1920 into an affluent and influential British Jewish
LEADING VIROLOGIST OF French refugee who had studied under Marie Curie, Although by now very sick, having been diagnosed
family who had taken in Jewish refugee children at the
HER TIME Franklin was introduced to Marcel Mathieu, Director with ovarian cancer, she worked until the end, and
end of WW1. of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique her last piece of research was into the polio virus.
which led to her appointment as a researcher at the As a scientist, Franklin rejected religion, but never
Her father, Ellis, a Liberal, had taught at London’s ROSALIND
Working Men’s College and her great uncle, Viscount Laboratoire Central des Services Chiminiques de actually abandoned Jewish traditions, describing
(Herbert) Samuel succeeded Lloyd George as Leader FRANKLIN l’État in Paris. It was here that Franklin began work herself to a friend as always ‘consciously a Jew’.
of the Liberal Party from 1931–1935 and had been on X-ray diffraction and in 1950 she was granted a Rosalind Franklin died in 1958. Her work formed the
Home Secretary from 1931–1932 in Ramsay chemist & fellowship at King’s College, London, where she was basis of later work on molecular structure, notably
Macdonald’s National Government. crystallographer assigned to work on DNA. the construction of the DNA model by Crick and
Watson in 1953. It wasn’t until 15 years later that
Rosalind Franklin had attended private schools and in
1931 was sent to St. Paul’s in West London, one of the
1920–1958 Franklin’s contribution was acknowledged, but she
few girls’ schools which taught physics and chemistry. was never nominated for a Nobel Prize.
The young Rosalind excelled in science, Latin and However, The Indian Express of 24th July 2020 ran
sports. In 1938 she went to Newnham College, an article on her as it was her 100th birth
Cambridge where, after graduation, she was awarded anniversary. They quoted science historian Patricia
a research fellowship in physical chemistry under Fara who said she was ‘a symbol of male prejudice’
Ronald Norrish. This did not end happily as she but went on to describe her as the leading virologist
struggled to establish a working relationship with him, of her time.
as she found him disappointing.
Rosalind Franklin
Photo
DNA double helix11
Glancing through a very interesting book on women scientists to start this lockdown project, I noticed this member of the Institute of Electrical Engineering
lady’s name and thought it rang a vague bell in my mind, so I searched further. I was correct. She was an
for her work on electric arc lighting. She was
alumna of the college I attended at Cambridge – Girton, a lovely place on the Huntingdon Road, about three
miles from the city centre. We were all very fit at that college as we had to cycle in and out every day for also awarded the Hughes Medal by the Royal
lectures and lab sessions. Of course, she was there long before I was! Society in 1906. She published a paper ‘The
Electric Arc’, after which she was proposed as a
Fellow of the Royal Society. This proposal was
rejected as married women in those days were
ineligible for this honour.
Hertha was born Phoebe Sarah Marks in Hertha invented the Flapper fan, which directed
Portsea, Hampshire. Her father, a watchmaker,
A WOMAN OF MANY gas away from the trenches in WW1.
was a Jewish immigrant from Tsarist Poland. He
TALENTS She was a strong supporter of the suffrage
Girton College, Cambridge
married local girl Alice Moss, a seamstress. movement. Through this she met fellow-suffragist
Sarah moved to live with her aunts in London at HERTHA did not award degrees to women in those days.
(In passing, it is worth mentioning that a former
and co-founder of Girton College, Barbara
Bodichon, who supported Hertha financially
the age of nine, her widowed mother having
seven other children to care for. When aged 16
she became a governess.
AYRTON Middlesbrough Soroptimist, Elizabeth Dawson,
was much later in a similar position, and only
through her studies and her career. Hertha was
also a close friend of Marie Curie. She even has
In her teens, she adopted the first name Hertha mathematician received her degree years afterwards.)
Hertha subsequently received a BSc from the
a song written about her!
Hertha died in 1923, the
as a gesture of independence from convention;
she also became an agnostic, though she & electrical University of London. In London, she taught result of an insect bite. A blue
always respected her Jewish heritage. engineer maths and devised mathematical puzzles and
began her inventions. She went on to register 26
plaque at 41 Norfolk
Square, Paddington,
Hertha went to Girton College, Cambridge,
then an entirely women’s college, where she 1854–1923 patents, for mathematical dividers, arc lamps commemorates her
studied mathematics. Here she also constructed and electrodes and air propellants. In 1884 she achievements.
a sphygmomanometer, and amongst other attended evening classes on electricity delivered The book I referred to at the beginning is 101
pursuits, formed a mathematical club. She by Professor William Ayrton, whom she Awesome Women who Transformed Science,
passed the Mathematics Tripos in 1880 but subsequently married and they had one written by Claire Philip, illustrated by Isobel
could only receive a certificate as Cambridge daughter. Hertha became the first women Munoz and published in 2020 by Arcturus.12
For many of us, our use of computers has increased dramatically in recent years. Equally, we see their use in She has been a guest on Desert Island Discs. As Sue
all aspects of life from supermarket shopping to booking a GP appointment. Computers hugely speed up
is noted for her dyed red hair it is not surprising that
processes and enable information to be stored efficiently. Their use in the 2020 pandemic will have contributed
enormously to combating it. her chosen luxury item to take on the desert island
Some of us, brought up when computers were not in common use, have tremendous respect for those who was red hair dye! Having succeeded in a male-
understand how they work. One such is Sue Black, Professor of Computer Science and Technology Evangelist
at the University of Durham. Hers is a very interesting story. dominated work environment it is unsurprising that
she is an advocate of women’s equality. She was to
be the Women’s Equality Party candidate for the
2020 London Mayor election but had to withdraw
Sue was born in Hampshire in 1962. As a child her for health reasons.
ambition was to drive a London bus. She left school at
‘IF I CAN DO IT, SO Sue was awarded the OBE for services to
16, married at 20 and soon had three children. By 25
CAN YOU’ technology in 2016.
A truly remarkable story. As she said in an article for The working rebuilt bombe now at The National Museum
she was a single mum in a women’s refuge, her of Computing on Bletchley Park.
New Scientist in July 2019, ‘If I can do it, so can
husband having threatened her and her children. She SUSAN ELIZABETH
decided to improve her education and took an Access you’. When asked in the same article which scientist,
course in the evenings, which allowed her to move on BLACK OBE living or dead, she would most like a conversation
to university. She graduated in 1993 with a degree in with she responded, ‘Ada Lovelace’, considered the
computing from London South Bank University. She computer first computer programmer. This is all the more
then worked for a PhD in software engineering, scientist fascinating as Ada lived between 1815 and 1852.
achieving this in 2000. In 2018 she became a Augusta Ada King, Countess Lovelace through
professor at the University of Durham. She is also an
1962– marriage to the 1st Earl of Lovelace, was the
Honorary Professor at University College, London. daughter of Lord and Lady Byron. We decided to
Sue is a staunch advocate of women in computing. She write about her too and she appears later in this
has set up Techmums, #techmums in 2011 to enable book.
mothers understand what their children are doing on
their computers and in this way has helped many A Colossus Mark 2 computer at Bletchley Park, 1943.
women get to grips with modern technology.
Her achievements are many. She was instrumental in
saving Bletchley Park, the WW2 codebreaking facility,
and has produced a book with this title.
Photo courtesy of Ali Tollervey13
As we find ways to survive the lockdown, many of us have taken to ‘binge watching’ favourite TV Through her work, Derbyshire formed a distinctive Elsa Stansfield and Madelon Hooykaas.
programmes. Right up there with Bake Off, Strictly and Game of Thrones is Dr Who, but I wonder how many
genre of radio feature, blending electronic music and If she was the first composer at the BBC to show that
people know the history of its original, iconic theme tune or the woman who composed it and who, in
launching her career, encountered barriers of both gender and class? soundscapes with a poetic collage of interviews with 'radiophonics' could be beautiful, she was unafraid
Delia Derbyshire was born in Coventry in 1937 and grew up in what she described as an upper-working-class members of the public. Her creation ‘The Inventions’ to be unsettling and menacing. Yet, by 1973,
family. At school, she demonstrated an affinity for the potential of everyday objects to create music. Distinctive
sounds from her childhood would haunt her later work. There are echoes of the air raid sirens during the Blitz was remarkable both for technical achievement and Derbyshire herself was feeling unsettled at the BBC
while the clogs of factory workers bustling along the cobbled streets of Preston (where she was evacuated the fact that they privileged the voices of everyday and what she perceived as an increasingly
during the Second World War) are suggested in the 'clip clop' rhythms of pieces like Pot au Feu (1968).
people and their thoughts on weighty philosophical commercial environment that was no longer
subjects, such as the possibility of life after death and sympathetic to her creative principles. She left the
When at school, Delia excelled in Music and the experience of ageing, at a time when the Radiophonic Workshop and relocated to north east
Mathematics, falling in love with the work of
MUSIC THROUGH SCIENCE portrayal of British working class communities and Cumbria for several years before returning to London
composers like Beethoven, Bach and Mozart. When individuals was limited and often clichéd. in 1978 and then settling in Northampton with her
Delia won a scholarship to Cambridge, electronic The ‘Inventions’ was a collaborative work with partner, Clive Blackburn.
colleague Barry Bermange, but in a radio interview Her post-BBC years have sometimes been described
music was not yet on the curriculum. Her interest in that DELIA
field was furthered by a visit to the Brussels World's Fair he does not acknowledge Derbyshire by name and as long decline into poor health and complete
in 1958 where she experienced Edgard Varèse's DERBYSHIRE downplays her role somewhat. Delia introduced new withdrawal from music. However, because her
Poème Électronique installed in Le Corbusier's pavilion. and previously unheard voices – quite literally – to public output reduced, many people thought that she
This was a groundbreaking fusion of electronic music, mathematician & the BBC and her work continues to encourage new had ceased to create.
generations to find their own creative voice. When Derbyshire died in 2001, she had started to
architecture and visual art and would have a deep
musician Derbyshire's reputation was burgeoning. Despite the collaborate on new music with Sonic Boom as the
influence on Derbyshire's future practice. After
graduation, Delia sought a position with record 1937–2001 BBC policy in the 1960s of not giving individual available technology had begun to catch up with her
producers Decca, but she was told that women were credits to Workshop staff, it is clear that she was held thinking. She influenced and is admired by bands
not employed in their studios, so she joined the BBC in in high regard by a number of senior figures at the and artists as diverse as Pink Floyd, Orbital,
1960 as a trainee assistant studio manager. BBC. Portishead, the Kronos Quartet and Cosey Fanni
In 1962 she requested a transfer to the BBC She collaborated with major figures in Britain's arts Tutti. Concerts and new works are increasingly
Radiophonic Workshop and she would remain there scene, ranging from Peter Hall and the Royal commissioned in her honour, not least through the
until 1973. In 1963, her arrangement of the Doctor Shakespeare Company to Yoko Ono and Ted educational charity Delia Derbyshire Day.
Who theme would contribute massively to the growing Hughes as well as a rewarding extended
public awareness and appreciation of electronic music collaboration in the 1970s with the pioneering artists
in Britain.14
Writing about Sue Black led me to consider the life and works of Ada Lovelace. This is an interesting story. It is Earl of Lovelace in 1838, so she became Countess
hard to believe that a computer programmer could have lived as long ago as the first part of the 19th century.
of Lovelace. They had three children, the first named
The central character in Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia, Thomasina Coverly, is a young prodigiously talented
mathematician and was based on Ada Lovelace. Byron after her father. They had several homes,
including an estate in Scotland. She also had a
shadier side, with rumours of extra-marital affairs
and gambling debts.
Yet Ada died at only 36 from uterine cancer. One
wonders what she would have achieved had she
Ada was born Augusta Ada Byron, the only legitimate lived longer. She was, incidentally, buried next to
child of poet Lord Byron. One month after Ada was
PROPHET OF THE her father.
born he left his wife and later left England. He died
COMPUTER AGE Her life and achievements are commemorated in
when Ada was eight years old. Ada’s mother promoted many ways. There is a blue plaque in St. James’s
Square, London. She is a character in Spyfall, part
her daughter’s interest in mathematics and logic. Ada ADA
was privately educated in maths and science by tutors 2, the second episode of Dr Who series 12. The
including Mary Somerville, researcher and scientific LOVELACE Ada Lovelace aka Augusta Ada Byron, 1843 or 1850
computer language Ada is named after her, as are
author. Her talents in this field led her to a long working many places and buildings.
a rare daguerreotype by Antoine Claudet
relationship and friendship with Charles Babbage, the mathematician As of November 2015 all new British passports have
‘father of computers’, who had produced an ‘analytical & computer Ada changed the concept of Babbage’s Analytical included an image of Lovelace and Babbage on
pages 46 & 47.
Engine from a number cruncher (calculator) to a
engine’. She was introduced to him by Mary
Somerville. Other well-known friends of that era were
programmer machine for manipulating symbols, even musical Ada Lovelace Day has
Charles Wheatstone, Michael Faraday and Charles 1815–1852 notes. She was way ahead of her time.
In many ways, Ada had a privileged life. She was
been celebrated on the
second Tuesday in
Dickens.
Ada translated an article by the Italian military the daughter of Lord and Lady Byron, and October since 2009, its
engineer Luigi Menabrea on a ‘calculating engine’, granddaughter of Lady Milbanke, who provided purpose being to raise the
producing a set of supplementary notes which contain much of her care. She had private tuition and profile of women in
what many considered to be the first computer numbered scientists among her friends and Science, Technology,
programme – an algorithm designed to be carried out acquaintances. In 1835 she married William, 8th Engineering and
by a machine. Baron King, making her Lady King. He was made Mathematics.
Charles Babbage's
Difference Engine15
I have chosen Gertrude Bell because she was local to Middlesbrough and very much a pioneer ahead of her the highest summit of the southern French Alps known As a diplomat, she was instrumental in forging links
time. I also had a good, long book about her to read during the lockdown!
as the Barre des Ecrins, plus many others. with Iraq, serving in Basra and Baghdad,
She was also a great linguist, writer, archaeologist culminating in a Treaty of Alliance between Iraq and
and traveller, crossing the Arabian desert six times in Great Britain which led to 20 years of British
12 years. She became very familiar with these occupancy.
Middle-eastern lands and peoples. This familiarity Her skills as an Arabist and nation builder were
made her a key figure in the politics of that area. She instrumental in helping to bring Faisal bin Hussein to
knew T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) and the throne of Iraq. She helped mediate between the
Gertrude Bell was born at her grandfather’s house, worked with him to support Arab independence. British and the Arabs and between Sunnis, Shias and
Washington New Hall, County Durham, on 14th July
DAUGHTER OF THE In World War 1 she served the British Army Kurds.
1868. In 1878 the family moved Red Barns, Redcar,
ARABIAN DESERT Intelligence Unit in Cairo and helped get British She established an archaeological museum and a
which was at that time in the County of Yorkshire. The soldiers across the desert. School of Archaeology in Iraq. The Iraqi Museum in
Baghdad preserves some of the country’s culture and
building is still there, but in disrepair. Her father was Sir GERTRUDE LOWTHIAN
Hugh Bell who paid for the cost of a new grammar history, including relics of the Mesopotamian
school in Middlesbrough which bore his name. Sir BELL civilisation. One wing of the museum is named after
Hugh had many business and philanthropic interests in her.
the North East. He made sure his workers were well archaeologist Gertrude never married. The love of her life was Dick
paid and cared for. He was Mayor of Middlesbrough Doughty Wylie, a married man of the Royal Welsh
three times and amongst many other initiatives, he 1868–1926 Fusiliers, who had no intention of divorcing his wife.
developed the Middlesbrough Winter Garden for the Eventually the affair ended leaving Gertrude
benefit of local people and an alternative to public heartbroken.
houses. This, in the Dundas area, was demolished in Gertrude died in the early hours of 12th July 1926
1963. two days before her 58th birthday.
Gertrude attended Oxford University where she Many tributes have been paid to her, though there
obtained a 1st class degree in Modern History – the A meeting between Arab, Bedouin and British officials have also been criticisms of some of her decisions.
around April 17–27, 1921, at Amir Abdullah ibn Hussein's A film Queen of the Desert portrays much of her life.
first woman to do so.
camp at Amman, Jordan
She was born into a world of privilege and plenty;
however, she declined her riches to enter the politics
and life of the Arab people. Gertrude was strong in
vitality and extremely fond of mountaineering, tackling16
In January I had spent my birthday in London visiting the usual tourist sites and we had walked through She was a Suffragist, not a Suffragette, in that she arguments proved useful in her career as a suffragist,
Parliament Square where we saw the statue which had been erected on 24th April 2018 to commemorate
felt what was right for her personally, and for the gaining her a reputation as a good speaker and
Millicent Fawcett, as part of the celebrations for the centenary of the passing of the Representation of the
People Act. NUWSS, was to adhere strictly to the principles of lecturer.
During lockdown I regularly watched several of the quiz programmes on TV. In one, the contestant had to not perpetrating any violence or lawbreaking of any Millicent was also a great supporter of worker’s
decide who the first woman was to be commemorated by the erection of a statue in Parliament Square. The
answer selected was Emmeline Pankhurst, which is probably the woman most people would have named. kind. rights and the overthrowing of laws which were
Reflecting upon this, when asked to write about a woman who had had some significance to me during the In 1870 Millicent wrote her first book, Political based on a dual morality for men and women. She
pandemic, I decided that Millicent Fawcett would be my choice.
Economy for Beginners, which received praise for its was involved with the Personal Rights Association, a
succinct and direct explanation, becoming a group dedicated to protecting vulnerable women.
Dame Millicent Fawcett (nee Garrett) was born on 11 significant textbook for students, with ten editions She also supported the abolition of the slave trade.
June 1847 in Aldeburgh and was the eighth of 10
WOMEN’S RIGHTS being published over 41 years. In 1872, she and her Millicent was also passionate about improving
children. She had a relatively privileged upbringing in
CAMPAIGNER husband published Essays and Lectures on Social women’s chances of benefiting from higher
a prosperous middle-class family, where all the and Political Subjects, of which eight of the essays education. She served as a governor of Bedford
were written by Millicent. In 1891 she wrote the College, London and was a co-founder of
children were encouraged by their parents to read DAME MILLICENT
widely, speak their minds and share in the political introduction to the new edition of Mary Newnham College, Cambridge in 1875. I like to
interests of their father. Her sister, Elizabeth Garrett FAWCETT Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of think of her as a Soroptimist ahead of her time!
Anderson, became the first female doctor in Britain. In Woman. Her capacity to simplify complex Millicent died on 5th August 1929 which meant that
1867 Millicent married Henry Fawcett who was a mathematician she had been able to go to Parliament the previous
year and listen to the law being passed which
Liberal MP and a professor of Political Economy. They
& suffragist equalised the voting age. She felt privileged to have
had one daughter, Phillipa, who in 1870 became the
first woman to obtain the top score in the Cambridge 1847–1929 been witness to the fruits of her life’s works.
Mathematics Tripos exams. Sadly, Millicent was Millicent Fawcett played a key role in gaining
widowed at the age of only 38. women the vote and in February 2018 she was
In 1865 Millicent had heard a speech on women’s announced as the winner of the BBC Radio 4 poll for
rights by John Stuart Mill, who was an early advocate the most influential woman of the past 100 years.
of universal women’s suffrage. This had a deep Millicent gave her name to The Fawcett Society, the
impression upon her. She subsequently became UK’s leading charity campaigning for gender
involved in the campaign for women’s suffrage via equality and women’s rights.
legislative change and from 1890 led Britain’s largest Millicent Fawcett's Hyde Park address on
women’s rights organisation, the National Union of 26th July 1913
Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS).17
This is the story of one woman’s dedication in her profession in the UK. To leave one’s family for a year, and After returning to England she was motivated to return resulted in these grown-up children not knowing who
help others find out about their background and who they really are, is inspiring.
to Australia to find and help these thousands of children they were. Many developed severe emotional
During the lockdown, many people have had feelings of hopelessness, loneliness and lack of control. How
much more would these children, taken away from their families to a strange country, have felt like this? (now adults) who had been shipped off to Australia. problems and some ended their own lives. Humphreys
Margaret discussed her findings with the Chair of Notts put her life on hold to help the now middle-aged
Social Services Committee who agreed to second her people. With the support of Social Services and her
for a year to follow up and uncover this scandalous whole family, she reunited them with their families where
situation and its subsequent cover up. possible.
The mothers of the children from a variety of Her research and the help she gave to the affected
Margaret Humphreys worked for Nottinghamshire backgrounds were told that the children would have a adults made a huge difference to many lives.
County Council in child protection and adoption
UNCOVERING A BRITISH better life with wonderful opportunities. This did not Margaret’s work led to her founding the Child Migrants
services. In 1986 she received a letter from a woman in
SCANDAL happen. Instead, most were placed into institutions or Trust to enable former British child migrants to reclaim
Australia who was trying to find out if she had any private, often abusive, homes and their lives were of no their personal identity and be reunited with their parents
consequence to anyone. They were used as slave and relatives. This was the best outcome possible in the
family members in the UK. She believed herself to be an MARGARET
orphan. She was trying to find her past identity, who labour. circumstances but it needed dedication, compassion
she was and her family background. She met HUMPHREYS Many of the children were told their mothers had died and selflessness.
when this was not true. They were often separated from Margaret has received several accolades and awards.
Humphreys briefly just days before returning to
Australia but was astonished to find that her mother was
CBE their siblings. They tried to make sense of life as it was. Kevin Rudd and Gordon Brown, Prime Ministers of
alive and well. Her story sounded unbelievable. There was little, if any, emotional support or care. This Australia and Great Britain respectively, thanked her for
After much thought, Humphreys wanted to find out if it social worker her campaign when they made public apologies to
former child migrants. In 2011, she was made a CBE for
was true that thousands of British children had been
sent to Commonwealth countries including Australia,
1944– services to disadvantaged people and in 2019 she was
New Zealand and Canada after the war up to the made an Officer of the Order of Australia. This year,
1960s. Children, from three to 15 years old, were sent Margaret has received a distinguished medal of honour
to these countries with the promise of a fresh start. from the social work profession and its International
Margaret’s research showed that the Australian woman Federation.
was telling the truth. She was one of many such Her book Empty Cradles is a best seller and was filmed
children. as Oranges and Sunshine in 2011 starring Emily
Humphreys travelled initially to Australia, in her own Watson.
Child migrants labouring
time and at her own expense, to make further enquiries Photo courtesy of the Child Migrants Trust
and found total corroboration with the initial facts given.
Photo courtesy of Louise ClutterbuckYou can also read
