Margaret Winifred Rushforth (née Bartholomew; 21 August 1885 – 29 August 1983) was a Scottish medical practitioner and Christian missionary in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

who, influenced by

Hugh Crichton-Miller Hugh Crichton-Miller (born in Genoa, Italy, 5 February 1877, died 1 January 1959 in London) was a Scottish physician and psychiatrist. He founded the Bowden House nursing home for nervous diseases at Harrow-on-the-Hill in 1912 and the Tavistock C ...

and his friend,

Carl Jung Carl Gustav Jung ( ; ; 26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded analytical psychology. Jung's work has been influential in the fields of psychiatry, anthropology, archaeology, literature, philo ...

, became the founder of a family clinic in Scotland, a therapist, Dream Group facilitator and writer. During a long and active career, spent mostly in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, she came to be revered and regarded as a local personality for people interested in spirituality and

self-actualization Self-actualization, in Maslow's hierarchy of needs, is the highest level of psychological development, where personal potential is fully realized after basic bodily and ego needs have been fulfilled. Self-actualization was coined by the organism ...

Early life and education

Rushforth was born in

West Lothian West Lothian ( sco, Wast Lowden; gd, Lodainn an Iar) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, and was one of its shires of Scotland, historic counties. The county was called Linlithgowshire until 1925. The historic county was bounded geogra ...

, Scotland, in 1885 and educated at the

Edinburgh Ladies' College The Mary Erskine School, popularly known as "Mary Erskine's" or "MES", is an all-girls independent secondary school in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was founded in 1694 and has a roll of around 750 pupils. It is the sister school of the all-boys Stewa ...

. She was a member of the Bartholomew family, farmers on the Hopetoun Estate since about 1650. Rushforth graduated with an

MB ChB Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery ( la, Medicinae Baccalaureus, Baccalaureus Chirurgiae; abbreviated most commonly MBBS), is the primary medical degree awarded by medical schools in countries that follow the tradition of the United King ...

from the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

in 1908.

Career

India

On graduating, she sailed for

to be a medical missionary. There she later met her husband, stockbroker Frank Victor Rushforth (1888–1945), and she spent the best part of the next 20 years as a

surgeon In modern medicine, a surgeon is a medical professional who performs surgery. Although there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon usually is also a licensed physician or received the same medical training as ...

and

hospital administrator Health administration, healthcare administration, healthcare management or hospital management is the field relating to leadership, management, and administration of public health systems, health care systems, hospitals, and hospital network ...

, specialising in

women's health Women's health differs from that of men in many unique ways. Women's health is an example of population health, where health is defined by the World Health Organization as "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not mer ...

UK

The Davidson Clinic

She became interested in

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...

and, on returning from India, spent some time working at the

Tavistock Clinic The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust is a specialist mental health trust based in north London. The Trust specialises in talking therapies. The education and training department caters for 2,000 students a year from the United Kin ...

in London, alongside fellow Scot,

. She became a candidate for training at the Clinic but before completing her studies, her husband took up a position at

Edinburgh College of Art Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) is one of eleven schools in the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Edinburgh. Tracing its history back to 1760, it provides higher education in art and design, architecture, histor ...

, and they moved back to Scotland. She set up a

private practice Private practice may refer to: *Private sector practice **Practice of law In its most general sense, the practice of law involves giving legal advice to clients, drafting legal documents for clients, and representing clients in legal negotiati ...

in Edinburgh in 1929. In 1939, during the burgeoning of the

Child Guidance Child Guidance was both an evolving 20th-century social construct, sometimes called the Child Guidance Movement, and an influential network of multidisciplinary clinics set up to address the problems of childhood and adolescence. It began in the U ...

movement, she established the Davidson Clinic with the aim of bringing family support and advice to the community, along the model of the pre-war Tavistock Clinic. She retired from the clinic in 1967 and the following year was awarded the OBE.

''Wellspring'', ''Sempervivum'' and the Salisbury Centre

In 1978, she was instrumental in setting up ''Wellspring'' after the Davidson Clinic closed and its tasks were taken over by the

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

in Scotland. In the late 1970s, she established a movement entitled Sempervivum which brought together

free thinkers Freethought (sometimes spelled free thought) is an epistemological viewpoint which holds that beliefs should not be formed on the basis of authority, tradition, revelation, or dogma, and that beliefs should instead be reached by other methods ...

at annual 'Easter Schools'. Dr Rushforth gave regular lectures at the ''Salisbury Centre'', in Salisbury Road, Edinburgh, until her late 90s. She ran weekly dream groups and "Search for God" groups from her house at 11 Lauder Road, Edinburgh, almost until the time of her death. Her daughter, Dr Diana Bates, continued Rushforth's work and was Director of Wellspring in

for some years.

Personal life

Rushforth was interested in C.G. Jung's research into symbolism, spirituality and the

numinous Numinous () is a term derived from the Latin ''numen'', meaning "arousing spiritual or religious emotion; mysterious or awe-inspiring."Collins English Dictionary -7th ed. - 2005 The term was given its present sense by the German theologian and ph ...

. She corresponded with Jung towards the end of his life - although they never met. For many years, Rushforth was a close friend of Sir Laurens van der Post. She was fascinated, in particular, by his work on the

Bushmen The San peoples (also Saan), or Bushmen, are members of various Khoe, Tuu, or Kxʼa-speaking indigenous hunter-gatherer cultures that are the first cultures of Southern Africa, and whose territories span Botswana, Namibia, Angola, Zambia, ...

of the

Kalahari The Kalahari Desert is a large semi-arid sandy savanna in Southern Africa extending for , covering much of Botswana, and parts of Namibia and South Africa. It is not to be confused with the Angolan, Namibian, and South African Namib coastal de ...

and kept a carved wooden statuette of a bushman, by the contemporary sculptor Christopher Hall, in the drawing room of her home in Edinburgh. Her portrait in the

Scottish National Portrait Gallery The Scottish National Portrait Gallery is an art museum on Queen Street, Edinburgh. The gallery holds the national collections of portraits, all of which are of, but not necessarily by, Scots. It also holds the Scottish National Photography Co ...

features the sculpture. It was van der Post who first told Prince Charles about Dr Rushforth's work on dreams and psychoanalysis, and urged the Prince to meet her. In the early 1980s, Rushforth's book ''Something is Happening'' was gifted to Prince Charles by Alick Bartholomew, a relative of Rushforth's, who assisted Prince Charles on the re-decoration of

Highgrove House Highgrove House is the family residence of King Charles III and Queen Camilla. It lies southwest of Tetbury in Gloucestershire, England. Built in the late 18th century, Highgrove and its estate were owned by various families until it was pu ...

. In March 1983, Prince Charles and

Princess Diana Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997) was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and mother of Princes William and Harry. Her ac ...

visited Dr Rushforth in Edinburgh. They spent an hour discussing Dr Rushforth's theories, on dreams and

spirituality The meaning of ''spirituality'' has developed and expanded over time, and various meanings can be found alongside each other. Traditionally, spirituality referred to a religious process of re-formation which "aims to recover the original shape o ...

, over

afternoon tea Tea (in reference to food, rather than the drink) has long been used as an umbrella term for several different meals. English writer Isabella Beeton, whose books on home economics were widely read in the 19th century, describes meals of var ...

. Dr Diana Bates, who was also present, later remarked that it was evident how thoroughly Prince Charles had read Dr Rushforth's books and how deeply he had thought about spiritual matters. In the months that followed, Prince Charles wrote regularly to Dr Rushforth and sent her hand-written copies of his forthcoming speeches, for her interest.

Death and legacy

When Winifred Rushforth died, in August 1983, Prince Charles was said to be very taken aback. "If only I had got to know her sooner!" he is said to have exclaimed. Sir Laurens van der Post attended Dr Rushforth's Memorial Service in Old St Paul's Church, Edinburgh, as Prince Charles's representative. The service was conducted by the then

Bishop of Edinburgh The Bishop of Edinburgh, or sometimes the Lord Bishop of Edinburgh is the ordinary of the Scottish Episcopal Diocese of Edinburgh. Prior to the Reformation, Edinburgh was part of the Diocese of St Andrews, under the Archbishop of St Andrews ...

Richard Holloway Richard Holloway Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, FRSE (born 26 November 1933) is a Scottish writer, Television presenter, broadcaster and cleric. He was the Bishop of Edinburgh from 1986 to 2000 and Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Ch ...

. Father Jock Dalrymple gave the

eulogy A eulogy (from , ''eulogia'', Classical Greek, ''eu'' for "well" or "true", ''logia'' for "words" or "text", together for "praise") is a speech or writing in praise of a person or persons, especially one who recently died or retired, or as a ...

. A 1982 portrait of Rushforth by the artist

Victoria Crowe Victoria Elizabeth Crowe OBE, DHC, FRSE, MA (RCA) RSA, RSW (born 1945) is a Scottish artist known for her portrait and landscape paintings. She has works in several collections including the National Galleries of Scotland, the National Po ...

is held in the collection of the

. In 2002, a memorial sculpture in Edinburgh's

George Square George Square ( gd, Ceàrnag Sheòrais) is the principal civic square in the city of Glasgow, Scotland. It is one of six squares in the city centre, the others being Cathedral Square, St Andrew's Square, St Enoch Square, Royal Exchange Sq ...

Gardens, "The Dreamer", by the sculptor Christopher Hall was dedicated by

Prince Charles Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to ...

Awards and honours

* 1968, OBE

Selected works

*''Something is Happening: Spiritual Analysis and Depth Psychology in the New Age'' (Turnstone Press, 1981) *''Ten Decades of Happenings'' (Gateway Books, 1984) (autobiography) *''Life's Currency: Time, Money and Energy : An Anthology of Shorter Writings'' (Atrium, 1986)

References

External links

The Salisbury Centre website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rushforth, Winifred 1885 births 1983 deaths People educated at the Mary Erskine School People from West Lothian Officers of the Order of the British Empire Alumni of the University of Edinburgh University of Edinburgh Medical School alumni 20th-century Scottish medical doctors British spiritual writers Jungian psychologists Protestant missionaries in India Scottish Protestant missionaries Medical doctors from Edinburgh 20th-century Scottish writers Scottish women medical doctors 20th-century women physicians