Suggest "the greatest Scot".

[TinfoilHattie]

DD who is 11 has a homework project to give a talk on the "Greatest Scot". She has to choose who she wants to talk about. She says she doesn't want to do someone that everyone is doing - so no Andy Murray, Mary Queen of Socts, William Wallace etc etc etc. She wants to talk about a woman and wants to do something different from everyone else and also has to justify why the person she has chosen is so remarkable or special.

Only person I can think of is Jane Haining. Any other suggestions?

And don't anyone DARE suggest Nicola Sturgeon!!

Elsie Inglis
Mary Slessor

Sir Alexander Fleming- discovered penicillin

I don't know the background but is there a woman behind Maggies Cancer Centres?

Her brother did Fleming at the same stage so I doubt she'll want to do him - and he's a man!!

Elsie Inglis a good shout - I was born in the Elsie Inglis hospital in the early 70s ;-)

Maggie Keswick Jencks

I was away to say Elsie ingils to .

Mary Barbour - led the Glasgow rent strike in 1915 which eventually led to the Rents & Mortgage Interest Restriction Act 1915.

Second for Mary Barbour

Oh Elaine C Smith did a programme about Mary Barbour was really interesting

Christian Isobel Johnstone was the editor of a major literary magazine (competition for Blackwood ) for many years from the 1830s.

I'm reading a book partially about Mary Slessor right now, as some of my family worked with her in Old Calabar.

But another vote for Mary Barbour or Elsie Inglis, if no one else is talking about them.

Stephen Hendry

James Watt, who was responsible for much of the Industrial Revolution.

Oh a woman. Liz McColgan then.

Ah sorry missed that she wanted to talk about a woman. Fanny Wright is one that springs to mind, she was one of the main influences in the abolition of slavery.

Or the Edinburgh Seven - the first women to be admitted to a British university

I was going to suggest Liz McColgan too. She was a fantastic athlete with a great legacy.

Think most of the Edinburgh Seven weren't actually Scottish?

www.scotsman.com/200voices/edinburgh-seven-first-female-students/

James Clerk Maxwell - not much in the classroom would work without his contribution to science. Anything electrical has him to thank (including classroom computers, whiteboards and lighting). And DD might stand out for making such a thoughtful choice. Unquestionably in the field of science he is up there with Newton and Einstein.

Ahem, she wants to talk about a woman.

Thanks all for suggestions, I've sent her off to read up on Elsie Inglis and Jane Haining and decide from there.

Tony Blair- oops no hang on
Donald Trump- oops again
Nicola Stu- Jesus I'm not even going to go there

What about Marion Gilchrist, the first woman to graduate from a Scottish medical school? She was a suffragette to boot.