For International Women’s Day, Jeanne Robinson, Curator of Entomology, highlights the life and work of Sheina Marshall.
When thinking about impressive women represented in the Hunterian’s Zoology collections to share and celebrate for International Woman’s Day Sheina Marshall immediately came to mind.
Sheina Marshall, nee Jean, was born in Glasgow in 1896, the middle one of three dynamic sisters. She grew up in Rothesay on the Isle of Bute, where her dad (John Nairn Marshall MD) worked as a doctor, founded the Buteshire Natural History Society and cared for the Rothesay Museum.
Sheina and her sisters helped in the museum, caring for the aquarium and making collections of dried flowers. We know that her father’s books on zoology, geology and Darwin further fuelled the interests and knowledge of young Sheina.
Following in her father’s footsteps, Sheina attended the University of Glasgow. She proved a very capable student, graduating with distinction with a BSc in Zoology, Botany and Physiology in 1919, and immediately securing a coveted Carnegie Scholarship.
The scholarship allowed her to stay on at the university until 1922, carrying out zoology research on anteater development and Hydra (solitary, carnivorous jellyfish like animals).
Marine Life of the Clyde
She soon found a new place to use her talents, securing the role of ‘naturalist’ at the Millport Scottish Marine Biological Association Station. The job must have been a good fit, as she worked there for over 50 years!
Whilst she officially retired in 1966, she continued her marine biology work until the day before she died in 1977. Fellow University of Glasgow alumni, biochemist Andrew Pickin Orr, joined her in Millport in 1924.
They worked together closely, exploring the physical conditions and marine life of the Clyde, publishing over 40 research papers and several scientific books together up until he passed away in 1962.
The specimen below is one of hundreds that have come to the University of Glasgow from the Millport Marine station since its establishment in 1885. It came into the Hunterian collections the year after Sheina started work at the facility.
More research may reveal further specimens from Millport connected to Sheina’s time and activities there. Sand mason worms feed on the plankton that Sheina became an authority on.
In 1934 Sheina was awarded a Doctor of Science from the university for her work on diatoms (single-celled algae) but most of her research at Millport was on marine plankton. She identified and described species of plankton that were new to science and she was pioneering in the study of the ecology of marine plankton, called copepods (small crustacea).
These tiny animals are a key component of marine food chains and important in the diets of fish. She worked on copepods for over 50 years, giving us deep insights into their biology and earning her the title ‘Queen of copepods’.
She also worked on the fish themselves, exploring the feeding biology of young herring and later investigating fish farming to boost local food production in support of the war effort for WW2.
From Agar Alternatives to Australian Expeditions
During the second world war there were issues with supply of goods as well as food. Agar was an important product, with medical, scientific and commercial applications, which had been imported from Japan before the war, but was no longer obtainable.
An alternative source of agar needed to be established and Sheina’s ‘naturalist’ expertise was called upon. She helped identify suitable local seaweeds and organised their collection by volunteers to ensure a reliable supply of British agar.
Whilst she worked in Scotland for many years, she did enjoy travelling for work and pleasure. We have specimens from Australia that were collected, donated to the Hunterian on her and Orr’s return from the ground-breaking Great Barrier Reef expedition (1928-1929).
coral – Fungia sp. (Z1490) and a section of horn or spine coral – Hydnophora exesa
(GLAHM:130885) from the Great Barrier Reef expedition, donated by S. Marshall and
A.P. Orr in 1929.
Both she and Orr were invited to join a team of 10 bright British marine scientists on the recommendation of the University of Glasgow’s regius professor of Zoology, Graham Kerr. Their year-long, well-resourced expedition was foundational in our understanding of coral reef biology. It was so productive and insightful that its findings filled 62 chunky scientific reports.
The expedition was also important in engaging the wider public in marine biology research; it received extensive press coverage in the UK and Australia. The expedition leader, Charles Maurice Yonge (who became Regius Professor of Zoology at Glasgow after Graham Kerr), declared: ‘I cannot conceive of the Great Barrier Reef expedition without the scientific and personal contribution of Sheina Marshall and A. P. Orr’.
This beautiful reef image above (GLAHM:162157) was painted by biologist, artist and Great Barrier Reef expedition member Professor Thomas Stephenson, it previously belonged to the expedition leader Charles Maurice Yonge, donated to the Hunterian in 2006. It provides an insight into the colour and vibrancy of the Fungia coral in life on the Great Barrier Reef, the dead remains of which were collected and donated by Orr and Marshall to the Hunterian (See GLAHM:130673).
An Outstanding Legacy
Sheina’s substantial contribution to marine biology was so hard to ignore, and she was championed by some of her male colleagues in her early career. So, she did as least receive some recognition within her lifetime. She was one of the first five women to be admitted to the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1949, when women were first allowed in, nominated by A. P. Orr.
She was the recipient of the Neill Prize for outstanding contributions to natural history in 1971 from the same society. In 1961 she became a fellow of the Royal Society. She was also awarded an honorary degree from the University of Uppsala. In 1966 she was awarded an OBE.
As well as living on through her impressive body of research and specimens, Sheina has a wider legacy. In addition to naming a number of the species herself, she now has a copepod named after her too, Calanus marshallae (Frost, 1974). The Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) opened the Sheina Marshall teaching building in 2011 in her honour.
There is a Sheina Marshall memorial fund to support students developing their scientific skills at the marine station in Millport, where she spent so much of her time.
Sheina remains an inspiration to any budding scholar, a reminder of what a scientist can achieve in the right environment with persistence, hard work and passion.
Our substantial natural history collection at The Hunterian contains many treasures. As we continue to catalogue and research the specimens and associated archives, we hope to uncover connections to, and stories of, more amazing women like Sheina. Watch this space!
Are there women associated with The Hunterian collections you would like to know more about? Let us know.
You can find out more about Sheina’s plankton research here. There is more on the Great Barrier Reef expedition via this link, and you can also view photo albums from the trip at the Biodiversity Heritage Library site.
The University of Glasgow Archive has materials relating to the Millport Marine station catalogued here.
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