2011.68.4.1

Collection type

Object

Description

Fire stick decorated with faded bands of painted decoration.

Geographical reference

Australia

Oceania > Australia and New Zealand > Australia

Person

Field collector Ida Mann

PRM source Bodleian Library, University of Oxford

PRM source Catherine Parker

Date

Date collected

by 1970

Acquisition information

Transferred: 02/09/2011

Materials and processes

Material Wood Plant, Material Pigment, Process Painted

Dimensions

Diameter: max 14 mm, Length: max 410 mm

Object numbers

Accession number: 2011.68.4.1

Research and responses

Biographical information: Ida Mann (1893 - 1983) ophthalmologist. Ida Mann was born in West Hampstead, London and educated at Wycombe House School, Hampstead. Having passed the Civil Service Girls Clerk's exam, she secured a job at the Post Office Savings Bank, aged seventeen. A benevolent visit to the London Hospital in Whitechapel revived a fierce desire to study medicine and she was amazed that such a career was possible if she enrolled in the only medical school open to women, the London School of Medicine for Women. Despite opposition from her father, she passed the London marticultation exam in 1914, one of only eight women out of hundreds of passes. She completed her studies, 'with no trouble and intense delight', and qualified in 1920. After applying for many junior posts, she was appointed to work under the Ophtalmic House Surgeonship at the hospital. Although she had no particular interest eyes, she soon realised that this fascinating subject was to be her life's work. She developed her specialism in ophthalmology and enbryology and at the same time acquired her qualification in general surgey, becoming F. C. R. S. in 1924. She was appointed to staff a post at Moorfields in 1927 (an unpaid but prestigious position), the first woman to achieve this seniority. SHe funded her independence by establishing a private practice in Harley Street.

In 1941 she was appointed as the Margaret Ogilvy Reader in Ophthalmology at Oxford University. During her tenure she oversaw the building of the Nuffield Laboratory of Ophthalmology, appointed Antoinette Pirie 'Toni' as Biochemist, replaced the matron with a more competent sister from Moorfields, re-started the diploma courses, inaugurated the Orthoptic School and re-instituted the Oxford Congress. She also continued her work for the war effort with research into the effects of various chemicals on the eyes. She collaborated with Professor Peters who had discovered British anti Lewsite, an antidote to the chemical warfare agent, Lewisite, and she also collaborated with Sir Howard and Lady Florey on the effects of penicillin on bacteria in humans. Her efforts were recognised by the university in 1945 when she was given a personal professorship, the first woman to receive one.

In 1944 she married Professor William Gye, a pathologist and director of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund. After the war, partly due to his poor health, they emigrated to Australia where she continued her clinical practice and also conducted research into the impact of genes and the environment on eye disease, with particular reference to the Aboriginal people. She travelled extensively throughout Australia and Oceania studying the incidence of eye disease in different races and cultures. In particular she highlighted the high incidence of trachoma amongst Aboriginal peoples at the time when it was thought to have been eradicated in Australia. She was incredibly hard-working and insatiably curious, and continued working and exploring into old age. She was appointed CBE in 1950, and DBE in 1980. She died at home in Perth in 1983. [FC 13/09/2011]

Search terms: Fire, Fire Accessory