Here are examples of health related records from all across the Highlands. Clicking on the images will allow you to see them in more detail. The images supplied are for educational purposes so please don’t use them for other reasons or share them online – thank you!
Highlands and Islands Medical Service
The Highlands and Islands Medical Services Committee was created in 1912, after it was noticed that most crofters were not covered by the 1911 UK National Health Insurance Act. There were many crofters in the Highlands, and it was not practical to expect them to pay for their own medical care. The Committee traveled around the Highlands and Islands, gathering information about the medical services in different areas. From their reports, you can see a detailed picture of the social landscape across the Highlands and Islands. The Committee set out a case to reform the healthcare system and the Highlands and Islands Medical Service was created. It was one of the first state provided healthcare systems in the world. It is also considered to be a precursor to the NHS.
You can find out more about the Highlands and Islands Medical Service in this booklet.
Physical Health
The importance of physical health has been known for thousands of years. In the Archive collections, you can see how our knowledge of physical health has changed over a few hundred of those years! You can see how vaccinations started to be given, how we dealt with epidemics like cholera and how hospitals and nursing developed. Our love of sport and physical activity has also grown over the centuries. The use of herbal medicine has also contributed to our understanding of physical health. You can read a storyboard about Mary Beith’s life and work on herbal medicines here.
Vaccination Defaulters
Public sign about Cholera
Gesto Hospital
Rules for Nurses
Sports – Curling
Sports – Football
Herbal medicines – clootie wells
Mental Health
Our understanding of mental health has also grown and changed over the years. Psychiatric hospitals – asylums as they were known for many years – have been around for a long time. The care and treatments they have given patients has changed over the years. The psychiatric hospital in the Highlands was known as Craig Dunain Hospital and was built in 1864. Before it existed, some people would be sent down south to Dundee or Edinburgh for mental health care at hospitals there. Before those hospitals existed, there weren’t many places people could go for help with their mental health. You can see a picture of Craig Dunain below.
This warrant from 1796 for Angus Smith from Arisaig shows that Angus, who had been unwell for a while, was taken to jail because there was nowhere else for him to go. They recognised that Angus needed medical attention, but there were no facilities to help him.
You can read a transcript of Angus Smith’s warrant here.
A few years later, in around 1812, William Baillie received medical attention for his mental health. William was from a very wealthy and landowning family, and because of this he went down to London to see a doctor there for treatment. While he was away from his home, William wrote letters to his sister in Inverness. He took to writing some of his letters phonetically – this is when you write things how they sound. They look impossible to read when you see the words, but if you sound out the words it makes sense!
You can read a transcript and a translation of William Baillie’s letter here.
