ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr Marguerite Stewart MD, DPM, MRCGP, 1896–1974
The daughter of a Church of Scotland minister, Dr Stewart spent some of her childhood in India, where her father was a missionary. She attended school in Edinburgh, before studying medicine at Edinburgh University. After qualifying she returned to India with the London Missionary Society, but health problems brought her back and she settled as a GP in London, at 73 South Side, Clapham.
This account, of her work during the Blitz, was given to me by her niece, Dr Catriona Collins, who is an educational psychologist in Edinburgh.
Dr Collins also gave me a collection of her Aunt's case studies of a number of her patients who were characterised by their multiple symptoms in the absence of any clearly defined pathology. These case studies show an insight into the management of anxiety and depression that would be exceptional now let alone 60 years ago.
Emerging from her writing and from Dr Collins memories of her, is a picture of a doctor of exceptional skill and compassion who chose, as a single person, to devote her life to the altruistic care of others, an inspirational GP.
September 5. Tension was in the air. All who had no duties in London departed. The main roads were turned into one-way traffic as, by trams and buses, London's children left town. Then we waited. All emergency schemes came into operation.
At night, the diabolo wail of a siren started an inevitable baby on its way. There were no nursing homes, no nurses free. At last a midwife was procured. The room was dim with a shrouded light, lest blackout precautions be offended. The case was one of the most difficult and anxious. But eventually all was well. That was the last baby case for many months.
London was a city without children, and …