Marion King Bennie Cameron nee Whyte

Class of 1918

This biography is based on secondary material listed in the bibliography. It was collated by Rennae Taylor.

Family History and Education

Marion was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1895 (1) and emigrated to New Zealand in 1898 with her parents, Rev Alexander and Mrs Whyte and her siblings, two brothers and two sisters. (2) David was born in 1889 in Scotland and qualified with his MB ChB NZ  in 1912, his MRCS and FRCS in 1922, and his FRACS in 1928. He settled in Wellington, where he eventually became senior surgeon at Wellington Hospital. He was also assistant editor of the NZ Medical Journal for many years. Alexander was born in 1893 and graduated with his MB ChB NZ  in 1916, DPH NZ in 1920, DOMS in 1931, and his MRCP in 1932. He was a physician for many years in Napier and Hastings as well as the President of the BMA from 1966-67. Her older sister Helen obtained her B.A. and married Dr W.H. Borrie in 1912. Borrie was born in Dunedin in 1871, was an Edinburgh medical graduate from the class of 1894 and practised as a GP in Port Chalmers (1899 -1925) and in Dunedin (1925-1945). (3) Little is known about her younger sister Margaret (Peggy), who never married and was still living at the time of Marion’s death in 1983. (4)

Marion’s father was well educated with a B.Sc, M.A. and B.D., (5) and was involved in the planning of Iona College in Havelock North. He was one of the founding members in 1915 of Columba College for girls in Dunedin. At the time of his death, he was president of the College Board of Governors. (6) He also encouraged the establishment of John McGlashan College in 1918, a boys Presbyterian school. (4)

On arrival from Scotland, the family lived in Havelock North for twelve years, where her father was the minister of the St Columbas Presbyterian Church prior to his call in 1910 to the Port Chalmers Presbyterian Church. He was in “delicate” health during his years in NZ and died in 1919 at the age of fifty-six. In his obituary, it was noted that “he was passionately earnest, deeply sympathetic, and both eloquent and eager in service and speech, which was always enriched by the knowledge of an observant scholar…he promoted spiritual influence in the school life of the youth of the church.” (7)

Marion grew up in this devout Presbyterian home with a strong emphasis on education. She is likely to have attended Havelock North School on Te Mata Road, which was established in 1878. In 1906, she was one of the scholars to achieve a National Scholarship with a score of 551 which gave her a junior free place at Napier High School. (1, 8) She was also successful in obtaining a National Scholarship (established to bring higher education within the reach of deserving scholars) at the end of 1907 with a score of 686, the third highest rank in NZ. (9)

Following the family’s move to Port Chalmers, she attended Otago Girls High School, where she was Dux in 1912. (10)

At the end of 1910, she received the second highest ranking in the Otago Education Board Senior Scholarships (11), and at the end of 1912, she was one of ten NZ scholars to be awarded a junior university scholarship. (12)

Otago Medical School and House Surgeon Training

Marion may have been encouraged by her two older brothers to enter medical school, as well as her father, who had once hoped to be a medical missionary. She commenced her studies at Otago in 1913. (10). She was a resident of St Margaret’s College and, in later years, became the official College Doctor and had to deal with serious outbreaks of measles and polio with the young women. (13) During the 1915 school year, she was a member of the Otago University Students Association Executive.

By mid-June 1917, Marion had passed her third professional examination in applied anatomy, public health, and medical jurisprudence (14) and attained her MB Ch B NZ in 1918. (3) She was a house surgeon at Dunedin Hospital for one year, followed by one year in the medical school pathology department.

Medical Career

Marion commenced her Dunedin general practice combined with obstetrics and anaesthesia in 1920, (10) and according to the electoral role, she lived and had her practice at 267 High Street until 1957. The house is still standing and is two large 4-bedroom flats.

From 1958 until 1965, she had her practice at Stuart Chambers, 83 Moray Place and resided at 210 Highgate in the suburb of Roslyn. Following her marriage in 1963, she changed her medical registration surname to Cameron. She maintained her registration until she was 86 years of age and continued to live at her home in Highgate until her final weeks at Mater Hospital. She was remembered as devoted and loving in her service to her patients. (4)

In Marion’s funeral address by Rev. D. J. Brown on 20 September 1983, he speaks about her espousal of the practice of anaesthetics thus: (4)

She had her first experience under her brother-in-law, Dr. W.H. Borrie, during an appendectomy performed on the kitchen table of a country farm house.

In April 1927, she became one of the three members of the anaesthetic staff of Dunedin Hospital and, in 1928, was appointed the first Lecturer in Anaesthesia, a role she continued in for the next 20 years. Her appointment indicated that the speciality was receiving some recognition following concerns in 1925 about “deaths and anaesthesia”. A committee made the following recommendations: (10)

1. Pure chloroform should not be given until the house surgeon has been in residence for one year and then only at the request of the Honorary Medical Staff.
2. Choloroform must not be given till the house surgeon has been 3 months in residence except with the permission of the Honorary Medical Staff.

Unlike other medical curriculum subjects at this time, which named the teachers and gave an outline of the subjects to be taught, the university medical calendars indicate only a few anaesthesia lectures were given in one term in the class synopsis for the fourth year of medical studies or after it became a six-year course in the fifth year. (10)

Prior to taking on the position of Lecturer in Anaesthesia, Marion travelled to the USA and the UK from March to November 1927 to learn about the modern anaesthesia practices in these countries, which included time spent with the world-famous anaesthetist Dr E.I. McKesson, who had developed the Nagraff McKesson gas machine. Following this trip, Clayton indicated she was regarded as an NZ pioneer in the use of endotracheal intubation, gas machines, intravenous fluids, and spinal anaesthesia. She took over the teaching of the fifth-year anaesthetic course, which included both lectures and practical instruction, and was affectionately referred to as ‘Maid Marion”. In 1936, she was paid £66 per annum with one guinea (about £1.05) for out-of-hours emergencies. She retired from her hospital and university lectureship work in 1948 after working very long years during World War II. (10) Over these two decades, her time as an anaesthetist stretched from the chloroform-kitchen table era to the complexity of modern anaesthetics for neuro and thoracic surgery. (1)

A Diploma in Anaesthesia (DA) was introduced in Britain in 1937, and Marion was elected to a foundation DA shortly after. (1) In 1954, she was elected FFARACS (Fellow of the Faculty of Anaesthetists of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons) (10) and was a regular attendee at the college meetings. (1)

Clayton indicates she retired completely from private practice in 1957 but her medical registration has her address at her Stuart Chambers rooms until 1965. (10)

Professional and Community Contributions

Marion was a founding member of the NZ Medical Women’s Association in 1921 and, in 1924, was their secretary-treasurer. (15) In 1974, she was conferred Golden Jubilee Membership from the Medical Women’s International Association (MWIA).

From PapersPast, Marion appears to have been a sought-after speaker for community organisations such as St John’s, Society of the Protection of Women and Children, the Sunlight League, Bible-in-Schools League, and the Women’s Division of the NZ Farmers’ Union. Several reports gave lengthy details of her forthright talks. In a 1937 end-of-school-year address at Columba School, she is reported to have had this advice for the young women: (16)

Real education could not be had without religion…This was the day of independence of womanhood. All over the world they were realising their ability to work their own independent way. It was very important that this should be realized. The speaker stressed the need for every woman to be so trained that she would be financially independent under any circumstances which might befall her. This would also give her an independent outlook on life. It was surprising that in many cases the first use a woman made of her independence was to give it up in favour of marriage. In her own home she was the uncrowned queen, and the health and happiness of her husband and children depended on her. It was a fact that one of the primary tasks of women was left to chance. If they really knew what to buy for food there would be much less illness. It was a very solemn business. Women had nearly all the buying to do, yet the training was practically non-existent. In spite of that, it was marvellous how well they carried out their tasks. The happy atmosphere of a good home could be felt, continued Dr Whyte, and whenever the home life was good it was due to the power of the woman’s hand.

Marion could speak very bluntly and explicitly. In an address at the annual meeting of the Sunlight League in 1935 (an organization started in Christchurch in 1931 with the aim of the prevention of disease and maintenance of good health based on the benefits of the sun (17)), she was reported to have addressed the women with these comments: (18)

The women of New Zealand must bear the responsibility for the great amount of illness in New Zealand because they do not know how to cook properly was an opinion expressed by Dr Marion Whyte, of Dunedin, in an address on diet and health at the annual meeting of the Sunlight League…Dr Whyte said that some of the women prided themselves on their cooking; but when she could see 95 per cent of the teeth in New Zealand sound and good and correct, then she would say that the women of New Zealand could cook…New Zealanders, she said, ate too much sugar – too much meat, too little vegetables, and drank too little milk. They also had too little of fresh fruit.

Marriage

In a 1988 NZ Journal of History article, Michael Belgrave made the following observation: (19)

Marriage could provide many benefits to the work of a male doctor…For Women, marriage was much more likely to interfere with their professional careers or lead to an abandoning of medicine altogether…A good proportion of those women who remained working doctors throughout their lives stayed single or married very late.

In 1963, at the age of 69 years, Marion married a widower, Stuart P Cameron. He was born in Dunedin, was an accountant by profession, and for many years was the manager of Fertilisers South Island Ltd. He was a World War I veteran, had been wounded (losing a limb), and after the war, became involved in the Moral Rearmament cause. (20) He was very involved in his community and his church – St Andrew’s Presbyterian. He and his first wife, who died in 1962, (21) had two daughters. He died on 2 September 1970. (20)

Retirement

Little is known about Marion’s retirement years. Rev. D. J. Brown relayed these thoughts in his funeral address. Marion was a faithful member of First Church of Otago (sitting in the same area of the church each Sunday) except for her seven years of marriage when she attended St Andrews Presbyterian Church. She was appreciative of the help of the Mater Hospital Sisters’ where she spent her last weeks, and was aware of her failing powers of body and distressed at the confusion that comes to the aged in terms of memory. But she continued to have deep convictions, memories, and hopes, which included her Eternal Father’s house, which had many rooms that called her on. In his funeral address, Rev. Brown shared a statement Marion had made to him on growing old: (4)

Oh, this getting old is a queer thing. It’s like going back to childhood. You have to be helped so much. I was down the corridor with a strong young doctor propping me up as if I were a little child learning to walk. I asked him: “What’s your name?” He told me and I said to him: “I think I delivered you, you know.”

She died at Mater Hospital on 17 September 1983.

Bibliography

1. Borrie J. Obituary Marion King Bennie Cameron. New Zealand Medical Journal. 1983.
2. The Rev Alex Whyte. Poverty Bay Herald. 1919 10.11.1919. Available from: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/PBH19191110.2.70
3. Wright-St Clair RE. “Historia Nunc Vivat” Medical Practitioners In New Zealand 1840 to 1930 Christchurch: Cotter Medical History Trust; 2003.

4. Brown RDJ. Funeral of Dr Marion (Whyte) Cameron. In: First Church of Otago D, editor. Dunedin: Hocken Library; 1983. p. 3.
5. Presbyterain Assembley. Lyttelton Times. 1898 14.02.1898. Available from: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/LT18980214.2.15
6. Late Rev. A. White Memorial Service at Columba College. Evening Star. 1919 11.11.1919. Available from: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ESD19191111.2.74
7. Obituary Rev. A. Whyte. Evening Star. 1919 08.11.1919. Available from: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ESD19191108.2.60
8. National Scholarships. Hastings Standard 1906 20.01.1906. Available from: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/HAST19060120.2.16
9. Scholarship Results Evening Star. 1908 08.01.1908. Available from: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ESD19080122.2.62
10. Clayton JI. The History of Anaesthesia in Dunedin Hospital. Dunedin: Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, Dunedin Hospital and Otago Medical School; 2006.
11. Otago Scholarships Education Board’s Awards. Oamaru Mail. 1911 20.01.1911. Available from: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/OAM19110120.2.37
12. Award of Scholarships. Evening Star. 1913 24.01.1913. Available from: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ESD19130124.2.19
13. Vision for the Future: A Centennial History of St Margaret’s College, Dunedin 1911-2011. Dunedin: St Margaret’s College; 2010.
14. Medical Examinations. Evening Post. 1917 15.06.1917. Available from: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19170615.2.65
15. Maxwell MD. Women Doctors in New Zealand: An Historical Perspective 1921-1986. Auckland: IMS (N.Z.) Ltd; 1990.
16. School Year Ends Columba Girls College. Evening Star. 1937 17.12.1937. Available from: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ESD19371217.2.139
17. Not All Sweetness and Sunlight Christchurch: Avenues Magazine; 2021 [17.07.2024]. Available from: https://www.avenues.net.nz/all-stories/2021/11/27/not-all-sweetness-and-sunlight
18. Poor N.Z. Cooks Cause of Full Hospitals: Blame Placed on Women. Hawke’s Bay Tribune. 1935 14.05.1935. Available from: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/HBTRIB19350514.2.108
19. Belgrave M. A Subtle Containment: Women in New Zealand Medicine, 1893-1941. New Zealand Journal of History. 1988;22(1):12.
20. Theirs a “Springboard” Trip to Europe and England. Free Lance. 1951 10.10.1951.
21. Cemeteries Search Dunedin: Dunedin City Council; [16.07.2024]. Available from: https://www.dunedin.govt.nz/services/cemeteries/cemeteries-search?recordid=131642&type=Cremation