Mount Stuart House, Isle of Bute - west view

Sheina Macalister Marshall (20 April 1896 – 7 April 1977) was a Scottish marine biologist who dedicated her life to the study of plant and animal

plankton Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms found in water (or air) that are unable to propel themselves against a current (or wind). The individual organisms constituting plankton are called plankters. In the ocean, they provide a cruc ...

. She was an authority on the

copepod Copepods (; meaning "oar-feet") are a group of small crustaceans found in nearly every freshwater and saltwater habitat. Some species are planktonic (inhabiting sea waters), some are benthic (living on the ocean floor), a number of species have ...

Calanus ''Calanus'' is a genus of marine copepod in the family Calanidae (Order Calanoida). The genus was split in 1974, with some species being placed in a new genus, '' Neocalanus''. The following species are recognised: *'' Calanus aculeatus'' Bra ...

. She worked at the Marine Biological Station at

Millport, Cumbrae Millport (Scottish Gaelic: Port a' Mhuilinn) is the only town on the island of Great Cumbrae in the Firth of Clyde off the coast of mainland Britain, in the council area of North Ayrshire. The town is south of the ferry terminal that links the i ...

in Scotland from 1922-1964.

Career

In 1922, she took a job at the Marine Biological Station in Millport on the Isle of Cumbrae where she worked for the rest of her life. From 1928 to 1929 Marshall travelled with

Frederick Stratten Russell Sir Frederick Stratten Russell (3 November 1897 – 5 June 1984) was an English marine biologist. Russell was born in Bridport, Dorset, and studied at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. From 1924 he worked for the Marine Biological Asso ...

and J. S. Colman on the Great Barrier Reef Expedition led by

Maurice Yonge Sir Charles Maurice Yonge, CBE, FRS FRSE (9 December 1899 – 17 March 1986) was an English marine zoologist. Life Charles Maurice Yonge was born in Silcoates School near Wakefield in Yorkshire in 1899 the son of John Arthur Yonge (1865-1946 ...

. Marshall studied the marine food chain, in particular copepods. This became her life's work. She collaborated for almost 40 years with the chemist, Andrew Picken Orr. Together they studied the

and

phytoplankton Phytoplankton () are the autotrophic (self-feeding) components of the plankton community and a key part of ocean and freshwater ecosystems. The name comes from the Greek words (), meaning 'plant', and (), meaning 'wanderer' or 'drifter'. ...

in and around the

river Clyde The River Clyde ( gd, Abhainn Chluaidh, , sco, Clyde Watter, or ) is a river that flows into the Firth of Clyde in Scotland. It is the ninth-longest river in the United Kingdom, and the third-longest in Scotland. It runs through the major cit ...

and

Loch Striven Loch Striven ( gd, Loch Sroigheann) is a loch, sea loch extending off the Firth of Clyde, and forms part of the Cowal peninsula coast, in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. Loch Striven extends off of the Firth of Clyde just north of the Isle of Bute, ...

. They authored several books and many papers together. In 1934 Marshall received a DSc from the University of Glasgow. In the 1940s she worked with Lillie Newton and Elsie Conway as well as Orr to develop

seaweed Seaweed, or macroalgae, refers to thousands of species of macroscopic, multicellular, marine algae. The term includes some types of '' Rhodophyta'' (red), ''Phaeophyta'' (brown) and '' Chlorophyta'' (green) macroalgae. Seaweed species such as ...

s from around the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

as a source of

agar Agar ( or ), or agar-agar, is a jelly-like substance consisting of polysaccharides obtained from the cell walls of some species of red algae, primarily from ogonori (''Gracilaria'') and "tengusa" (''Gelidiaceae''). As found in nature, agar i ...

for pharmaceutical purposes since imports from traditional sources in the Middle East were prevented by the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. She also examined the effect of

fertilizer A fertilizer (American English) or fertiliser (British English; see spelling differences) is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply plant nutrients. Fertilizers may be distinct from ...

s on marine productivity at Loch Craiglin. She retired as Deputy Director of the Station in 1964 (having been appointed to this post on the death of Orr, the previous post-holder, in 1962). She continued research there as an Honorary Fellow. Between 1970 and 1971 she attended the

Scripps Institution of Oceanography The Scripps Institution of Oceanography (sometimes referred to as SIO, Scripps Oceanography, or Scripps) in San Diego, California, US founded in 1903, is one of the oldest and largest centers for ocean and Earth science research, public servi ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

and she visited the Villefranche-sur-Mer Marine Station in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

1974. In 1987 she published a history of the Marine Station.

Early life, education and family

Sheina Marshall was born on 20 April 1896 in Rothesay,

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 second daughter of three, to Jean Colville (''née'' Binnie, born 1861/2) and John Nairn Marshall (born 1860) of

Mount Stuart House Mount Stuart House, on the east coast of the Isle of Bute, Scotland, is a country house built in the Gothic Revival style and the ancestral home of the Marquesses of Bute. It was designed by Sir Robert Rowand Anderson for the 3rd Marquess in ...

. Marshall's father, a general practitioner, had an interest in natural history and encouraged his daughters' interest in the subject. Initially Marshall was educated by

governess A governess is a largely obsolete term for a woman employed as a private tutor, who teaches and trains a child or children in their home. A governess often lives in the same residence as the children she is teaching. In contrast to a nanny, ...

es, later attending Rothesay Academy and St Margaret's School in Polmont. In 1914 she entered the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

to study for a BSc in

Zoology Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, an ...

botany Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...

and

physiology Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemic ...

. After an interruption in her studies due to

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

she graduated with honours in 1919. She held a

Carnegie Fellowship The Carnegie Corporation of New York is a philanthropic fund established by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 to support education programs across the United States, and later the world. Carnegie Corporation has endowed or otherwise helped to establis ...

at the University from 1920 to 1922 and worked with the professor of zoology,

John Graham Kerr Sir John Graham Kerr (18 September 1869 – 21 April 1957), known to his friends as Graham Kerr, was a British embryologist and Unionist Member of Parliament (MP). He is best known for his studies of the embryology of lungfishes. He was involv ...

. Outside her work she enjoyed walking, foreign travel,

needlework Needlework is decorative sewing and textile arts handicrafts. Anything that uses a needle for construction can be called needlework. Needlework may include related textile crafts such as crochet, worked with a hook, or tatting, worked wi ...

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek '' poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meani ...

and

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...

. She was considered hospitable, dignified and generous. She died of a heart attack at Lady Margaret Hospital, Millport, Cumbrae on 7 April 1977. She bequeathed her house at Millport to the Directors of Millport. Her sisters were Margaret Marshall OBE, Matron at Edinburgh's Royal Infirmary and Dorothy Nairn Marshal MBE, a museum curator on Bute.

Honours

In 1949 Marshall, along with Ethel Dobbie Currie, became the first women to be elected Fellows of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

. Her proposers were Sir John Graham Kerr,

James Ritchie James Ritchie may refer to: * James Ritchie (rugby union) (1907–1942), Scottish international rugby union player * James Ritchie (naturalist) (1882–1958), President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh * James Ritchie (Massachusetts politician) (1 ...

, Sir Maurice Yonge, Charles Wynford Parsons and Andrew Orr. She was awarded the society's

Neill Prize The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

in 1971. In 1963 she was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of London The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, r ...

. She was awarded the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

in 1966. In 1977 she received an honorary degree from the University of Uppsala, Sweden. The teaching building at

Scottish Association for Marine Science The Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) is one of Europe's leading marine science research organisations, one of the oldest oceanographic organisations in the world and is Scotland's largest and oldest independent marine science org ...

Dunbeg Dunbeg ( gd, An Dùn Beag), formerly known as Dunstaffnage ( gd, Dùn Stafhainis or ''Dùn Staidhinis''), is a village about outside of Oban, Scotland. It has a population of just under 1,000. It is home to the Scottish Association for Marin ...

was named in her honour in 2010.

Works

Marshall wrote over 60 scientific articles.Biography of Sheina Marshall
at the University of Glasgow. * 'The Food of '' Calanus finmarchicus'' during 1923', ''Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the UK'', Vol. 12 (1924), 473-79. * ''On the Biology of Calanus finmarchicus. VIII.'', 1955 (with Andrew Picken Orr) * ''The Biology of a Marine Copepod'', 1955 (with Andrew Picken Orr) * 'Respiration and Feeding in Copepods', ''Advances in Marine Biology'', 1973 *An account of the Marine Station at Millport, 1987

References

External links