Papers, 1936-1958, of William Oliver Petrie, missionary doctor and superintendent of hospitals, Malawi.

William Oliver Petrie (1913-1998) was born at East Manse, Loanhead, Midlothian, the son of Rev. James Petrie and Mrs Cecilia Petrie. Rev. Petrie was the minister of the United Free Church at Loanhead. William was educated at Loanhead Primary School and George Watson’s College, Edinburgh. He graduated in medicine from Edinburgh University in 1936, and worked for a time at Darlington Hospital.

William Petrie’s first posting to Africa was prompted by his father, who persuaded him to travel to Sibasa, Transvaal, South Africa in 1938, to provide temporary cover for the doctor at the Donald Fraser Mission Hospital. Petrie remained at Sibasa for a year, after which he moved to Blantyre, Nyasaland (now Malawi). He worked at Blantyre as a missionary doctor until the outbreak of the Second World War, when he joined the King’s African Rifles. He served in East Africa, firstly as a Lieutenant, then a Captain. For six months in 1943, he was seconded to assist his elder brother, Dr P.W.R. Petrie, who was working as a missionary doctor in Sana’a, Yemen.

After a brief period of leave to the UK in 1945, during which time he married Miss Jemima (Erine) Craik, Petrie returned to Nyasaland in 1946. He transferred to the Medical Colonial Service, taking up a position as a Medical Officer in Cholo, then as Superintendent of the European Hospital in Blantyre. Finally, in August 1951, he became Superintendent of the African Hospital in Zomba, a position Petrie was to hold until he and his family returned to the UK permanently at the end of 1957.

The bulk of the papers consist of family correspondence, covering all aspects of Petrie’s life and career during his time in Africa. His letters are very detailed and provide much information on his varied work and broad-ranging personal interests, and on colonial life in general. After his marriage to Erine, letters are from both husband and wife.