A COMMEMORATIVE plaque to “best-loved woman in Aberdeen” Dr Laura Sandeman (1862-1929) has been unveiled at 22 Waverley Place in Aberdeen, the location of Dr Sandeman’s former home and GP practice.
The plaque is the first ‘People’ plaque in Aberdeen to be blue, which brings the city into line with other well-known commemorative plaque schemes. A ‘People’ plaque is a round plaque which commemorates the life of an outstanding individual who has contributed to the development of the city, the history of the region or who are of international standing.
The plaque commemorating Dr Sandeman has been funded by Aberdeen Women’s Alliance and reads:
Dr Laura Sandeman
1862 – 1929
General Practitioner, social welfare pioneer and Chief Medical Officer of Scottish Women’s Hospital for Foreign Service, lived and worked here.
Dr Sandeman is considered to be a locally and nationally significant figure. Born in Bradshaw, Greater Manchester, she grew up in Perthshire and studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh. She set up a practice in Aberdeen in 1905 and took an active role in social welfare and helping the plight of the poor, particularly in the east end of the city and in Torry. She worked tirelessly, sometimes refusing payment, to alleviate poverty and suffering, lecturing on child welfare, visiting families, and through her association with many social agencies.
In 1915, during the First World War, Dr Sandeman served with the Scottish Women’s Hospital for Foreign Services as First Medical Officer at Troyes in France. She later became controller of Medical Services to Queen Mary’s Army Auxiliary Corps. She also served on the Scottish Board of Health Consultative Council.
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She died at Waverley Place on 22 February 1929.
A lengthy obituary in the Press & Journal stated: “’The best-loved woman in Aberdeen’ might well be the epitaph of Dr Laura Stewart Sandeman, whose sudden death yesterday from pneumonia, following on influenza, cast a gloom over every household in the city.”
Councillor Miranda Radley, Convener of Aberdeen City Council’s Communities, Housing and Public Protection committee, said, “Dr Laura Sandeman was a highly-regarded doctor in Aberdeen, who worked tirelessly to promote social welfare and to help alleviate poverty and suffering. I’m pleased that Dr Sandeman is being honoured with a commemorative blue plaque.”
Lesley Dunbar of Aberdeen Women’s Alliance said:
“It’s great Dr Laura Sandeman’s contribution to general medical practice and social welfare in Aberdeen is being recognised in this small way with a plaque at her home and GP practice. Dr Sandeman first came to the attention of the Aberdeen Women’s Alliance History Group few years ago. A group of older women in Torry told us with pride about the mother and baby clinics she ran in Torry and the East End of Aberdeen for disadvantaged families. The Torry women also mentioned her remarkable achievement becoming the Chief Medical Officer for the Scottish Women’s Hospital for Foreign Service during the First World War. Dr Sandeman was truly a pioneer as one of the early women involved in medical practice in Aberdeen and near the battlefields of France.”
