Abstract
Ruby Payne-Scott’s family history reveals that her forebears believed in the importance of education; these ancestors included a number of independent-minded women. Payne-Scott, herself an educator, had many role models to follow as numerous women in her family tree were teachers. Similar to Ruby Payne-Scott, her female ancestors tended to have children later in life, while men in her lineage tried their hands at numerous professions.
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- 1.
The details of Payne-Scott’s ancestors were researched by Dr. Elizabeth Hall. Some details of the life of Hubert Payne Scott and his daughter Valerie Violet Payne-Scott have been modified since Under the Radar, The First Woman in Radio Astronomy: Ruby Payne-Scott was published in 2009. These changes have been provided by Dr. Hall. Many aspects of the Tiverton (Devon, UK) story were contributed by Cedric Ashton, Research Assistant, Tiverton Museum.
- 2.
Henry Scott had a most remarkable life. Like his younger brother, he became a physician. He was widowed in 1868 when his wife Sarah and daughter Margaret (born c. 1860) died in the Chincha Islands, off the coast of Peru. There is no information as to why the family was in South America. Henry then apparently remarried in the mid-1870s and became a clergyman in Swettenham in Cheshire. His name was still registered in the medical register. His second wife was Annie with a son, William, born c. 1878. In the 1881 and 1891 census records the family was living in Cheshire. He also appeared in a census record of 1901, visiting Mannington Bruce in Wiltshire. Henry was present at the death of his brother on 17 January 1917, signing the death certificate as H.T. Scott, M.D.
- 3.
A pupil-teacher would still be a student but assisting in the education of younger children. Henry was fortunate in attending the well-known Blundell’s School, which had links to colleges at Cambridge and Oxford. In 1859, in his mid-20’s he became a licentiate of the Society of Apothecaries, London and a Licentiate of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons, Glasgow. In 1861 he became a Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
- 4.
Morrell, “A History of Homeopathy in Britain”, 1998; Torokfalvy and Armstrong, “Homoeopathy in Australia—a Brief History”.
- 5.
The passenger list contains a Mr. H. Scott. The identification with Hubert is not conclusive, but the date is consistent with events of the following 2 years.
- 6.
The British and Australasian Medical Directories; the Australian Sands Street Directory, and the Victorian Government Gazette.
- 7.
“Master Cyril Payne Scott, one of the successful solvers in our first solution tourney, is hardly 16.” Sydney Morning Herald, 3 August 1895, p.5.
- 8.
Brisbane Courier 12 December 1896, p.9 and Barbara Armstrong, History of Homoeopathy in Australia (www.historyofhomoepathy.com.au/people).
- 9.
The 1903 Medical, Dental and Pharmaceutical Directory of New South Wales listed Hubert with a practice at 50 George Street, while the UK Medical Register provided an address at 18a Ranelagh Road, London, W. (a location near Ealing).
- 10.
Hereford House, an annexe of Sydney Teachers College. Later in 1919, while studying for a BA at the University of Sydney, Valerie’s occupation was given as teacher and she was still living with her mother at 8 Holborrow Street, Croydon. By 1917, Marguerita was at 20 Edwin St., Croydon where she stayed until her marriage in 1923 (based on electoral rolls).
- 11.
Dr. Elizabeth Hall has written: “76 Edgeware Road, 3 Trafalgar Street, 63 London Street and probably Arundel Terrace, all rented by Hubert, are modest three-bedroom residences. ‘Pretoria’ at 75 London Street, is larger and more imposing. This was rented by Cyril. It is mentioned in a history of the area but there is no indication of whether or not it was used commercially. Agnes is shown as living there in 1903 but Hubert’s name does not appear in connection with it or at any future address occupied by the family.”
- 12.
George Marks (circa 1864–1951) emigrated from the UK to Australia sometime after 1891.
- 13.
Braywood Private Hospital, 274 Addison Rd., Marrickville, a hospice for the dying, especially the underprivileged, based on a private communication from the archivist of Marrickville Council, 2012. Marrickville and Petersham are adjacent suburbs. Marguerita’s death on 23 March 1963 is recorded as occurring at the “Home of Peace”, Petersham.
- 14.
Passenger lists, Sydney Morning Herald, 18 January 1935.
- 15.
Amy was a school teacher born 1875 in Picton, NSW. Her parents were William Neale, an auctioneer born in 1840, who most likely died before 1910, and Ada Mary Moffitt, born 1846.
- 16.
Probably Page was a visiting physician at the Runnymede Private Hospital as he owned his own hospital, Clarence House on Through Street, South Grafton. Sir Earle Page (1880–1961) was born in Grafton; after finishing medical school in Sydney he opened the hospital in 1903. He was a member of the Australian Federal Parliament from 1919 to 1961. When Lyons died in 1939, Page was appointed Prime Minister and served for 20 days (7–26 April 1939). Page was the Minister of Health in the Menzies Government from 1949 to 1956.
- 17.
Details about South Grafton and the Neale family provided in 2007 by Frank Mack, President of the Clarence River Historical Society, founded in 1931 by Dr. Earle Page. Mack has published a feature article about Payne-Scott in the 18 November 2006 Clarence River Historical Society Newsletter (No. 94).
- 18.
The children of Ruby Payne-Scott have assumed that the Cyril Payne-Scott family lived for a few years in Coonabarabran, NSW (the future home of the Australian Astronomical Observatory, 450 km NW of Sydney); in fact the text in Under the Radar, the First Woman in Radio Astronomy is based on these memories of “living” in Coonabarabran.
- 19.
Interview with Peter Hall, February 2007. His mother had vivid memories of visiting Coonabarabran. from Sydney in the late 1920s on school holidays. She described the animals on their property (cats, dogs and rabbits) and visits from relatives from Grafton who complained about the summer heat in this inland community. These memories are consistent with Ruby visiting relatives in Coonabarabran instead of her parents.
- 20.
Due to possible street renumbering or even transcription errors in the records, the street number could be 118 or 156.
- 21.
This building was later demolished; in 2007 there was no indication of the structure. When Payne-Scott entered Sydney Girls’ High School in early 1926 the address listed on her enrolment form was her father’s shop at 118 Liverpool Road. Ruby’s Leaving Certificate of late 1928 listed the updated address, 156 Liverpool Street. Also her brother was pursuing the Intermediate School Certificate at a school in Summer Hill, only 5 km distant (National Archives of Austtralia-NAA: A9301, 20769).
Reference
Morrell, P.: A history of homeopathy in Britain. http://www.homeoint.org/morrell/articles/pm_brita.htm (1998)
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Goss, W.M. (2013). Ruby Payne-Scott’s Ancestors and Her Early Childhood. In: Making Waves. Astronomers' Universe. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-35752-7_3
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