Respected family doctor and GP trainer
Born: April 28, 1917
Died July 22, 2013
Alison Clarke, who has died at the age of 96, was a doctor who settled in Glasgow just before the start of the NHS and spent her working life in general practice in the city.
Her parents were Jamaican but work took them to various countries, where their three daughters were born, the first in Jamaica, the second in Nigeria and the third, Alison, in England. All, however, grew up on the island, attending schools in the British tradition.
In 1936, Alison won a scholarship to study medicine in the UK, and Aberdeen University was chosen as the cheapest option for the long course. A family friend, primary school teacher Rena Thomson, invited the student to spend holidays in Ayrshire and became accepted as an honorary aunt.
Dr Clarke loved Scotland and never yearned to return to the West Indian sun. When she qualified in 1941, she took various hospital jobs before deciding to go into general practice, inspired by the example of a colleague who seemed able to tell at a glance just how seriously ill a patient was.
In 1947, she seized the opportunity to take over a single-handed practice in Glasgow. As a GP on her own, she needed someone at home to answer the phone, but Miss Thomson chose to take early retirement and ran the household until her death in an accident in 1980.
Shortly after the establishment of the NHS, there were moves to give GPs the same professional status as physicians and surgeons, with the establishment of the Royal College of General Practitioners in 1952. Dr Clarke was one of the founder members and a keen supporter of its activities.
A year later she became involved in a pioneering course for young doctors planning to enter general practice: each would spend three months shadowing her before completing the year working independently with the constant backup of experience. Her last student was Dr Joan Harvey, who went on to become a partner in the Radnor Street practice in 1965.
Dr Clarke also worked with the student health service at Glasgow University and was invited to address undergraduates as part of their medical course. Her belief that if you take time with people you won't have them coming back was passed on to successive generations of GPs.
In 1977 the household moved from the Victorian villa in Maryhill to a bungalow in Skelmorlie in preparation for Dr Clarke's retiral in 1981. Always an enthusiastic gardener, she spent the next 30 years perfecting the grounds, enjoying the changing views of the Clyde, entertaining friends, travelling and raising funds for the local Ardgowan Hospice.
Her other great love was music and it was only in the last two years that she missed her regular visits to the Edinburgh Festival and attendance at Scottish Opera's study days.
Her funeral brought together local people and visitors from three continents, family connections and friends who shared a warm affection as well as respect for a remarkable woman who had devoted her long life to her adopted country and profession.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article