The lives of eight incredible Scottish women
Mary Somerville
Mary Somerville (1780 - 1872), scientist, born in the manse at Jedburgh.
She found fame by translating scientific works into language that ordinary people could understand, and published a number of books herself on the science of mathematics and astronomy.
Advertisement
Hide AdMary Somerville and Caroline Herschel, sister of Sir Herschel, the astronomer who discovered Uranus, were the first women to be admitted to the Royal Astronomical Society, in 1835.
Indirectly Somerville became the first ‘scientist’, when William Whewell invented the term in a review of her 1834 tract ‘On the Connexion of the Sciences’.
Oxford University’s Somerville College is named after her.
Dame Isobel Baillie
Dame Isobel Baillie (1895-1983), soprano, born in Hawick.
Her signature work was Handel’s Messiah, which she performed over 1,000 times.
She was the first British performer to sing in the Hollywood Bowl, in 1933.
Annie Lennox
Annie Lennox, singer-songwriter born in Aberdeen in 1954.
She created the Eurythmics with Dave Stewart in the 1980s, and in 2003 won an Oscar for Best Original Song for ‘Into the West’, which she co-write for the end credits of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.
Vicki Nelson - Dunbar
Vicki Nelson - Dunbar, tennis player, born in 1962.
She took part in the longest women’s tennis match in history, which lasted six hours and 31 minutes, during the ‘Ginnys of Richmond’ tournament in Virginia in 1984.
Advertisement
Hide AdHer opponent was Jean Hepner, and although the match only went to two sets, the second-set tie-break, won 13-11 by Nelson - Dunbar, included a rally of 643 strokes lasting 29 minutes.
Joyce Anstruther
Joyce Anstruther (1901-53)
Pen name Jan Struther, was an author and hymn-writer and granddaughter of Sir Robert Anstruther, 5th Baronet.
Advertisement
Hide AdShe wrote a column fot the Times newspaper in which she introduced the character Mrs Miniver, who would give an account of her everyday life. In 1939 Struther published the columns in a book that became a bestseller in the United States. She followed this up with a series of letters written by Mrs Miniver, and her running commentary on life in Britain for an ordinary family in the early years of the Second World War is given considerable credit for helping persuade the Americans to enter the conflict.
Mrs Miniver was made into a film by MGM in 1942 starring Walter Pidgeon and Greer Garson as lead character. It wonsix Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actress, and Best Director, Struther also wrote several hymns, of which the best known is ‘Lord of all Hopefullness’.
Frances Hodgson Burnett
Frances Hodgson Burnett (1849-1924), playwright and author born in Manchester, who married Dr Swan Burnett of Washington DC in 1873. She is remembered for much-loved children’s novels such as Little Lord Fauntleroy (1886) - Fauntleroy’s attire, long curls, velvet suit and lace collar, was based on Oscar Wilde’s mode of dress - A Little Princess (1905) and The Secret Garden (1911).
Meg Farquhar
Meg Farquhar (1910 - 1988), born 1910 and appointed as assistant professional at Moray Golf club in 1929, was the first woman professional golfer.
Margot Asquith
Margot Asquith (1864 - 1945), wife of Prime Minister Henry Herbert Asquith, was born Margot Tennant on the Tennant family estate in Peeblesshire.
The Tennants were wealthy industrialists. Margot Asquith was noted for her glittering social life, acerbic wit and outspokenness.
Memorable quotes:
Advertisement
Hide Ad‘Lord Kitchener - if not a great man he was, at least, a great poster’.
‘What a pity, when Christopher Columbas discovered America, that he ever mentioned it.’
‘He could not see a belt without hitting below it’ (Of Lloyd George)