Anne Bryson Sutherland

Anne Bryson Sutherland was the only child of David Murdoch Sutherland and his wife, Margaret Bryson. Her father ran the family drapery business in Bathgate, where he was also a member of the town council, and he served with the 10th Royal Scots during the first world war, attaining the rank of lieutenant colonel. Anne’s paternal grandfather, Donald Tulloch Sutherland, was provost of Bathgate, and her maternal grandfather, James Bryson, invented the Bryson retort, thus improving the process of extracting oil from shale, and later designed and oversaw the construction of the original oil refinery at Grangemouth.

Anne was educated at Bathgate Academy and St Hilda’s School, Liberton, Edinburgh, where she excelled both academically and in sport. She became head girl and proxime accessit. On leaving school, she wished to study medicine, but her father thought this an unsuitable career for a woman, so she attended the Edinburgh College of Domestic Science, and went on to train as a dietitian. Four years after her father’s death she embarked on a degree in pure science at the University of Glasgow, leaving after a year when she obtained a place on the MB ChB course at the University of Edinburgh, where she …