Mary Cunningham Holding a Baby at Regent Terrace

Category

Library Item

Item no

32420

Title

Mary Cunningham holding a baby at Regent Terrace

Artist / maker

Unknown

Date

1917

Size

7.8x5.3cm

Type

Photograph

Location

Edinburgh and Scottish Collection

Mary Cunningham may have been the nurse for Rev. James Gillan's children who lived at 4 Regent Terrace. Rev. Gillan was a member of the Edinburgh Public Dispensary who provided a medical service to the poor of the city. The benefits of the introduction of the Child Welfare Scheme was discussed at their annual meeting in January 1918 so Gillan would have been aware of the creation of the new health visitor posts and may have informed Mary about them.

Regent Terrace was designed by William Playfair in 1825 and built between 1826 and 1833. It was part of Playfair's Eastern extension to the New Town. The houses are now all part of the Unesco World Heritage site and are category A listed buildings.

This image comes from a photograph album donated to Edinburgh Libraries covering the nursing career of Miss Mary Morag Bird Cunningham. Mary was born in 1888 and at the age of 22 began training at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary (RIE) as a nurse. Once qualified in 1915 she moved to the Edinburgh Royal Maternity Hospital (ERMH) and obviously found her calling in the care of children. In 1917 she became one of Edinburgh's first health visitors as part of the introduction of Edinburgh's Child Welfare Scheme. The album contains early photographs of the RIE and ERMH as well as images of child health care clinics that she worked in during the 1930s at Portobello and Prestonfield.

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Related subjects

People > Children > Babies

People > Health and safety > Nurses

Places > Edinburgh areas > New Town

Places > Scotland > Edinburgh

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