Nora Wattie

Throughout her career, Wattie was modernising and innovating; initially treating the suffering of women and their babies who were infected with sexually transmitted diseases by husbands returning home after the Second World War,[1] later eliminating diphtheria through a city-wide chain of clinics.

[2][3] For 30 years, Wattie worked on improving women's and children's physical and mental health in the slums of Glasgow, influencing the medical profession and advising government.

[11] Wattie's approach was to encourage contact tracing and volunteering for treatment, rather than the prevailing more judgemental view taken about those suffering from sexually transmitted diseases,[12] and published her own research on improving sex education and maternity care.

[14] Wattie went on to develop her primary interest in improving the health of women and children in the poorest slums of Glasgow, and, in 1934, she was appointed Principal Medical Officer (Maternity and Child Welfare).

In 1936, Wattie spoke to the Glasgow District Nursing Association on the danger of the common cold and that 'children brought up in overcrowded dwellings, and unsuitably fed and clothed, were especially liable to catarrhal infections'.

"[22] Wattie had introduced maternity home helps (known as the Green Ladies, from the colour of their uniform) who supported new mothers and also established temporary accommodation in children's homes if mothers required hospitalisation (e.g. for the birth of subsequent children), all of which was intended to improve the 'psychology of the pre-school child and of the conditions favourable to health mental growth' as described in a speech Wattie made to the Public Health Section of the Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow.

[24] Wattie was recruited for a 'Brains Trust' which met in Glasgow in 1942, The question master was Tom Honeyman, and other panellists included Guy McCrone and Paul Vincent Carroll.

The Committee had been set up by the Secretary of State for Scotland, Tom Johnston, and also included social pioneer May Baird and author Naomi Mitchison.