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“Let the Battle Commence:” The Pioneering Life of Helen Millar Lowe

Born in Duns on 10th December 1897, Helen M. Lowe left Berwickshire High School at the age of 16 to pursue a career beyond traditional educational settings. Following her failure to graduate, she decided to move to England and soon joined the offices of the Post Office Savings Bank in London, where she worked as a clerk throughout the First World War. This was to be only the first of a series of rebellious acts that made Helen, in many ways, a revolutionary woman for her time.

Papers of Helen Millar Lowe (Coll-1247)

Upon the coming into force of the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919, Helen decided to return to Scotland to begin an apprenticeship with chartered accountants Chiene and Tait, a post that she held for nine years. In 1926, after long and extensive training and supplementary classes at The University of Edinburgh, Helen became the third woman in Edinburgh to officially enter the register of Chartered Accountants. As ‘a would-be pioneer in one of the most conservative professions,’ however, Helen did not content herself with her achievements, and two years after her qualification as a Chartered Accountant, she left Chiene and Tait to open her own business in Queen Street, Edinburgh, the first female Chartered Accountant to do so within the city.

Helen’s incredible tenacity and business acumen, led her to set up an extremely successful business. At her death on 6th November 1997, Helen left a £7m fortune built on a portfolio of stocks and shares and several properties around Edinburgh.

Courtesy of Lothian Health Services Archive, Edinburgh University Library

Yet, Helen is remembered for more than just business success. A keen participant in the life of her community, Helen invested much of her time in charitable work, particularly in the service of women and the elderly. As honorary treasurer and secretary of many charitable bodies, Helen dedicated her life to the well-being of those within and without her social circle, advocating for several important causes on a local level.

Her most notable effort is, without a doubt, her campaign in support of the Bruntsfield Hospital for Women and Children and the Elsie Inglis Memorial Maternity Hospital. Originally conceived as ‘Institutions that are staffed by legally qualified medical women and in particular which afford to women and children the opportunity of consulting and being treated by medical women,’ the two hospitals offered critical and much-needed services to the community they served.  Therefore, when in 1957 the South-Eastern Regional Hospital Board made the decision to advertise a vacancy for Consulting Physicians at the hospitals as open to both men and women, protests ensued. Helen quickly joined forces with other protesters, organising a committee to mount a strategic campaign. In April 1957, a mass meeting took place in the Usher Hall to raise awareness of the issue:

It was a splendid meeting. There were queues at each door an hour before the time, and the body of the Hall, the Main Gallery, and a large part of the Organ Gallery were filled to capacity.

Courtesy of Lothian Health Services Archive, Edinburgh University Library

Following the success of the meeting, which the Weekly Scotsman described as ‘one of the most remarkable demonstrations yet made against State management in this country,’ several initiatives were encouraged for the promotion of the campaign. When the Board remained firm in their decision, however, Helen begun seeing the necessity of taking matters further:

The gloves are off now, and we are really rolling our sleeves and saying “Let the battle commence.”

After pleads to the Secretary of State went unheard, Helen and ten more prominent local women took the issue to the Court of Session. The case was heard in October 1957, and, a few weeks later, a judgement in favour of the campaigners was finally pronounced. In May 1958, a female physician was finally appointed to the post. The status of the hospitals had been preserved.

Shortly after the successful end of the campaign, members of staff at the Bruntsfield Hospital for Women and Children and the Elsie Inglis Memorial Maternity Hospital wrote to Mrs. Lowe to thank her for her engagement with the campaign:

The whole conduct of the campaign with its successful outcome has filled us with admiration and we feel that a large part of its success was due to your ungrudging selfless work on our behalf. We owe you a debt that we can never repay.

Helen’s strenuous efforts in support of the campaign –testified in her extensive correspondence with various members of both the general public and governmental institutions— garnered not only the gratitude of those directly affected by her selflessness and determination, but the status of pioneering woman above and beyond her professional career. Helen’s words in response to those thanking her speak of her legacy:

It will be a pity if Scotsmen and women were to accept all the dictates of the bureaucrats. I think, however, that we still have amongst us far too many people of independent mind for that to happen.

As a woman of ‘independent mind,’ Helen did much to protect the vulnerable and ensure that injustices would not go unchallenged. In 1964, her active and passionate participation in charitable work was rewarded with an MBE as part of the New Year Honours.

Oh WOW! Women at Work in the 1980s

WOW promotional materials (SC-Acc-2018-0179)

Buried within the pages of one of the latest acquisitions at the Centre for Research Collections–one so recent, in fact, that its contents have yet to be detailed within the CRC catalogue–, a cut-out of a 1980s’ magazine states:

 ‘The trouble for most women who have spent years at home is that they lack the self-confidence to start again. And those few who have retained their self-esteem are so out of touch that they don’t know how to get going.’

This statement should come as no surprise, as even today women, who statistically perform a greater share of domestic and child-rearing tasks, are more likely than men to see their career development negatively affected by their commitment and devotion to family responsibilities. At the time our magazine article was published, however, the UK government, in partnership with the Manpower Services Commission and the University of Edinburgh, begun to implement a unique solution to the issue: the WOW programme. WOW (Wider Opportunities for Women) courses started being offered within the Extra-Mural Department at the University of Edinburgh in 1980, making the university possibly the sole institution to receive Manpower Services Commission funding for such a programme. Initially run by the Training Services Division of the Manpower Services Commission, the WOW programme was aimed at women planning to return to work –most often after pregnancy and years of domestic ‘employment’–, and sought to provide training opportunities as well as guidance over how to approach the job market, what type of opportunities might be available, and what obstacles may be encountered.

WOW promotional materials (SC-Acc-2018-0179)

As the leaflets and fliers stored within the collections suggest, the Edinburgh WOW programme was open to all women who had never had a job or who had not worked for at least two years. In addition, women of at least 19 years of age who had left full-time education a minimum of two years prior to the start of the programme were also encouraged to place an application, making the course a highly inclusive and diverse environment.

Most importantly, the course was mainly aimed at women who might feel insecure or unsure with regards to their career paths. In a short statement within the same magazine cut-out, then organiser of the Edinburgh WOW course –and WOW alumna—Joanna Highton stresses the importance of helping women understand their potential and talents:

‘When we interview women, we deliberately choose those who have not made up their minds about what they want to do. They are the ones who need it most.’

Those accepted on a WOW course were offered a tax-free weekly allowance dependent on their family circumstances, as well as travel reimbursement and lunch refreshments throughout the course. They were encouraged to take part in different work experience programmes and to consult experts in their chosen fields, and appointments were made for them to discuss their plans ‘with the expert staff of the Occupational Guidance Unit.’

WOW promotional materials (SC-Acc-2018-0179)

 ‘The WOW course helps women focus on the job they want, and gives them a realistic idea of just how to get it.’

CV guidance and interview preparation were integral components of the WOW programme, so as to fullfil the three fundamental aims of the course:

  1. To give information;
  2. To help make plans;
  3. To help gain confidence.

In 1989, with the transformation of the Extra-Mural Department into the Centre for Continuing Education, the WOW programme at The University of Edinburgh underwent a re-branding that lead to the creation of the new Returning to Work or Study course, ‘a two-term one-morning-a-week’ course ‘open to parents of either sex who have been tied to domestic responsibilities for a number of years.’ The newly formulated programme had the goal of providing ‘participants with an opportunity to reassess their potential and reconsider their career goals.’ Although statistics relating to the number of male vs female students within the new course are currently not available, general social tendencies seem to suggest that enrollment to the Returning to Work or Study programme  would have remained primarily, if not uniquely, female.

Revolutionary in its approach to solving a problem affecting countless women, the WOW course remains inspirational today as an initiative promoting inclusion in the workplace, supporting families, and encouraging women to pursue satisfying and meaningful careers.

From Bletchley with Love: Irene J. Young

Irene J. Young (Coll-1657), 1944, photographer unknown.

Irene J. Young, affectionately known by friends and family as ‘Mouse,’ was born in Edinburgh on 16th February 1919. She was educated at Esdaile (Ministers’ Daughters’ College) before joining The University of Edinburgh in 1937 to pursue an M. A. (Hons) degree in English Language and Literature.

Irene’s engagement in the war effort dates back to her time as a student in Edinburgh, where, in the summer of 1941, she begun work as a volunteer with ‘the Scheme for Provision of Shelter for Persons rendered Homeless as a result of enemy action.’ A scrapbook of Irene’s time at The University of Edinburgh, stored within the Centre for Research Collections, depicts Irene’s commitment to play a part in the home front resistance as well as her emotional involvement in the welfare of troops deployed both at home and abroad.

After her graduation in July 1942, Irene was recommended by members of the University for employment with the Foreign Office, work that eventually led her to take up a post at the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) at Bletchley Park. Of her time at Bletchley, Irene wrote:

 “I, among many others, was a mere adjutant –a cog in the great enterprise. We did the routine work which was, nevertheless, collectively essential.”

The ‘collectively essential’ work performed by Irene at the GC&CS was part of a top-secret operation, code-named Ultra, to obtain –through decryption— vitally important intelligence from enemy radio and teleprinter communications. Thanks to the strenuous works of ‘cogs’ like Irene, the end of the war in Europe is said to have been advanced by two years (1), potentially sparing countless lives.

Irene J. Young and Leslie George Cairns (Coll-1657), 1944, photographer unknown.

On 29th December 1943, after a long and complex engagement, Irene married fellow Edinburgh University graduate Lieut. Leslie George Cairns, R. A. (Ayrshire Yeomanry), seconded Parachute Regiment, with a small ceremony in St. Cuthbert’s Memorial Chapel in Edinburgh. The couple’s happy ending, however, was destined to be short-lived, as barely six months after the wedding Lieut. Cairns went missing during a sabotaging expedition in France, and was later declared dead in action. The mysterious circumstances of Leslie’s death prompted Irene to embark, soon after the end of the war, on a frustrating journey to France in an attempt to uncover the truth of her husband’s final mission. Following a series of unsuccessful inquiries, Irene begun making plans to permanently leave Britain, eventually moving to South Africa in 1947.

Abroad, Irene worked as a bookseller and a lecturer. During her time in South Africa, she made the acquaintance of Reginald Brown, a British war veteran “who was extremely sensitive to [her] experience, and who, himself, had had a tough war.” The shared memories of war times encouraged a bond between Irene and Reginald which, soon, resulted in marriage. Not long after becoming husband and wife, the couple returned to Edinburgh, where Reginald found employment as an accountant, while Irene worked first as a freelance editor and tutor, before joining a department of Edinburgh University Library, where she remained for ten years.

Then, in 1982, “shortly after the Falklands War,” Reginald “died suddenly and unexpectedly”:

“I was desolate. Not for nothing is the word for ‘widow’ derived from the French ‘VIDE’.”

Out of Irene’s grief for the loss of her second husband, came the idea for a new project: a memoir detailing Irene’s memories of the war, her work at Bletchley Park, and her first love. In 1988, having worked on her autobiography for the best part of six years and with the 50th anniversary of the beginning of WWII fast approaching, Irene started accosting publishers. The path to publication proved not without obstacles, with some editors commenting, “Oh no! Not another war memoir!”, and others doubting the “viability” of the project on the basis that “you are not a household name.”

Irene J. Young (Coll-1657), 1939, photographer unknown.

Yet, Irene persevered in her attempts, and in April 1989 she was finally able to announce to her friends Ronald and Dorothy:

“I have a big surprise for you –and for myself! The book I started writing some time ago –to fill the big void created by Reg’s death—is to be published early next year!”

Enigma Variations was published in May 1990, two years after Irene’s first letter to her publisher, Bill Campbell. Irene’s papers speak of her delight at being able to share the “3 enigmas in my life then”: work at Bletchley Park, a love story complicated by the need for constant secrecy, and “the enigma of Leslie’s fate.” By immortalising her experiences, Irene was able to give voice to a generation of young people whose passions and fears had been silenced by years of unanswered questions and strict confidentiality:

“The technical complexities of the Enigma machine, and the breaking of the code have been brilliantly explained by Ronald Lewin, Peter Calvocoressi and others. I am in no way competent to do this.

[…]

My book has a much humbler purpose. I wanted to set on record the grim but hilarious social conditions endured by the rank and file at BP [Bletchley Park]. […] I happen to think this a piece of social history that shouldn’t be lost, and that any interesting individual experience in historic times is worthy of being recorded.”

Although Irene might only have been ‘a cog in the great enterprise’ of public History, her personal history, the history of a woman of incredible vitality and character who relentlessly fought for what she believed to be right, portrays the struggles, the sufferings, and the victories of an entire generation. Irene’s memoir and papers shed light on the experience of the war not as a great national event, but as the daily life of common men and women whose losses, sacrifices and efforts served as the backbone for an entire country. As such, her painstaking recording remains an invaluable gift to future generations.

Irene J. Young (Coll-1657), 1944, photographer unknown.

(1) Kahn, David (1997), The Codebreakers: The Comprehensive History of Secret Communication from Ancient Times to the Internet (2nd Revised ed.), New York: Simon & Schuster.

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