Anne Brittain was one of the first hundred women to graduate in Law from the University of Glasgow. Her early interest in law, however, was soon overtaken by a commitment to Medicine and she became a distinguished psychiatrist. She was born in Glasgow on 7th August 1922. When she began her studies in Law in 1939 she was living in the family home in Ruthven Street and by then her father, Hugh Ferguson Stevenson Brittain , a sailmaker and canvas merchant, had died. Her progress through the B.L. curriculum showed signs of struggle, which may not have been surprising if she was also serving an apprenticeship and beginning to take classes in the Medical Faculty. In the session of 1943-44 she was enrolled in Pathology, Surgery and Clinical Surgery while sitting exams in Civil and Mercantile Law from previous years. She graduated B.L. in 1945 and M.B. Ch.B in 1947. It was an extraordinary time for Anne and her siblings. Her brother Robert graduated LLB in 1944, having previously graduated B.Sc., M.A. and MB.Ch.B, and her sister Katherine graduated M.B Ch.B. in 1945. Like Robert, who became Physician Superintendent of the State Hospital at Carstairs, Anne’s lifelong interest was in psychiatry. She went on to become Senior Medical Commissioner of the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland after a career that earned her plaudits over a wide-ranging portfolio of skills, from compassionate individual care and diagnostic detective work to policy and administration. Putting the patient first was at the heart of her practice in all the roles she undertook. Dr. Anne Brittain died, aged 67, in 1990.
Sources
University of Glasgow Registry and General Council Records
Scotlands People
Obituary https://www.cambridge.org>view
