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Alexina McWhinnie

Alexina Dobson was born in Edinburgh on 11th July 1923.  Her parents, Mary and Charles Dobson, did not encourage her academically, yet her career demonstrated that she had a keen intellect and academic study and research was a constant feature of her life (The Times, 2017).   

She left school at 16 and attended the Edinburgh School of Domestic Science.  The School had been established in the 1870s and aimed to provide educational opportunities to women and improve the diet (and consequently health) of working-class families in particular.  As the School developed it began to train teachers, housekeepers and nurses.  The school’s remit continued to expand and in the 1960s and 70s it responded to women’s desires to gain wider educational opportunities – becoming a Higher Education Institution, known as Queen Margaret’s University from 1972, before becoming Queen Margaret University in 1999 (Queen Margaret University, 2022) 

From the Edinburgh School of Domestic Science Alexina Dobson gained a place on the Certificate of Social Study at the University of Edinburgh from 1941-1943.  Interestingly she had a placement for this course at the Guild of Service and the report from this, authored by Kay Stewart, notes that she is “quite one of the brightest students we have had for some time.” (Centre for Research Collections) 

Following her completion of the Certificate course she qualified as an Almoner (a medical social worker) at the Institute of Medical Social Work in 1944 and went to work as an Assistant Almoner first at Bradford Royal Infirmary, and then at the Lanarkshire Miners’ Rehabilitation Centre, Uddingston.  She wrote to Miss Nora Milnes, Director of the Department of Social Study at the University of Edinburgh, detailing her role, and its pay and conditions in 1946 – noting that her salary was £305 per annum (Centre for Research Collections). 

Alexina came back to Edinburgh in 1948 to work for the Guild of Service until 1950 (University of Edinburgh, 2018).  She then returned to academic study gaining a first-class Honours degree in Economic Science at the University of Edinburgh in 1953.  In 1954 she married James Barr McWhinnie, a child and adolescent psychiatrist, and the couple had two sons (James, 1997).   Alexina was then appointed Director of the Guild of Service in 1957 and she remained in this post until 1962.  During her time as Director, she encouraged and facilitated the organisation to professionalise its services (University of Edinburgh, 2018).  The Annual Report of the Guild of Service from 1962, which paid tribute to her time as Director recorded that Dr McWhinnie had not only “completely reorganised our recording system” but that she had also ensured “administration, adoption, casework and child care were all modified and brought into line with the best modern practice.  She handed over to her successor a lively, growing organisation, looking towards the future but still inspired by its original ideals.” (Guild of Service, 1962, p3) 

Whilst working at the Guild she was awarded a Carnegie Scholarship to undertake her PhD, entitled ‘A study of adoption: the social circumstances and adjustment in adult life of 58 adopted children’ (University of Edinburgh, 2024).  Although she left the Guild of Service in 1962 her contribution to the field of adoption more generally and to In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) and Donor Insemination was hugely significant.  She went on to research and publish extensively on this topic as a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Dundee.  She was awarded an MBE in 2010 in recognition of her work. (University of Edinburgh, 2024).   

Alexina McWhinnie died on 16th April 2017, aged 93.

References: 

Anon., (2017), “Alexina McWhinnie”, The Times, 23rd May, page 54. 

Centre for Research Collections, University of Edinburgh, ‘Alexina Mary McWhinnie’, EUA IN1/ACU/S2/8/1/543. 

Guild of Service. (1962) 51st Annual Report of the Guild of Service. Edinburgh: Guild of Service. 

James, Anthony. (1997) ‘James Barr McWhinnie’, Psychiatric Bulletin, 21, 799-800. 

Queen Margaret University Edinburgh, (2022), Our History. https://www.qmu.ac.uk/about-the-university/history/ 

The University of Edinburgh, (2018), SW 100: Social Work at Edinburgh University: Alumni. Available at: Alexina McWhinnie | Social Work Centenary | Celebrating 100 years of Social Work at Edinburgh University 

The University of Edinburgh, (2024), Alumni in History: Alexina McWhinnie. Available at: Alexina McWhinnie (1923-2017) | Alumni 

Alexina McWhinnie’s publications: 

  • McWhinnie, Alexina. (1959) ‘Medical Aspects of Adoption’, The Lancet, 273 (7064), 149-150. 
  • McWhinnie, Alexina. (1960) ‘A Study of Adoption: The Social Circumstances and Adjustment in Adult Life of 58 Adopted Children’. PhD: The University of Edinburgh. 
  • McWhinnie, Alexina and McWhinnie, James B. (1964). ‘Problems in Adoption’, British Medical Journal, 1 (5391), 1182.   
  • McWhinnie, Alexina. (1967) Adopted Children: how they grow up; a study of their adjustment as adults. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. 
  • McWhinnie, Alexina. (1970) Unmarried Mothers – are the social services adequate?  Report of Survey of Casework Facilities in Scotland for unmarried mothers and women with extra-marital pregnancies. Edinburgh: Scottish Council for the Unmarried Mother and her Child. 
  • McWhinnie, Alexina. (1992) ‘Creating Children: The medical and social dilemmas of assisted reproduction’, Early Child Development and Care. 81 (1), 39-54. 
  • McWhinnie, Alexina and Batty, Daphne. (1993) Children of Incest: Whose Secret is it? London: British Agencies for Adoption and Fostering. 
  • McWhinnie, Alexina. (1993) ‘Doubts and Realities in DI Family Relationships’, Politics and the Life Sciences. 12 (2), 189-191. 
  • McWhinnie, Alexina. (1996) ‘Outcome for families created by assisted conception programmes’, Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics. 13 (4), 363-365. 
  • McWhinnie, Alexina. (1998) ‘Ethical Dilemmas in the use of donor gametes’, Medicine and Law. 17 (5), 311-317. 
  • McWhinnie, Alexina. (2000) ‘Children from Assisted Reproductive Technology: The Psychological Issues and Ethical Dilemmas’, Early Child Development and Care. 163 (1), 13-23. 
  • McWhinnie, Alexina. (2000) ‘Families from Assisted conception: Ethical and Psychological Issues’, Human Fertility. 3 (1), 13-19. 
  • McWhinnie, Alexina. (2000) ‘Euphoria or despair? Coping with multiple births from ART: What patients don’t tell the clinics’, Human Fertility. 3 (1), 20-25.