Evelyn Mary Macdonald (1 June 1905 in São Paulo, Brazil – 20 November 1993 in Battle, East Sussex) was a British occupational therapist who helped establish occupational therapy in the United Kingdom, Argentina and Greece. She founded the Association of Occupational Therapists. Miss Macdonald was Principal of Dorset House, the oldest and largest School in Great Britain for 33 years. She was an appointed member of the Cope Committee which led to the statutory regulation of the Professions Supplementary to Medicine in 1960. Macdonald was the first Chair of the Occupational Therapists Board. She was an author, an early advocate of cooperation between the allied health professions and a historian of the Association.
Early life and education Evelyn Mary Macdonald was one of six children of Ebenezer John Macdonald (1870–1926) and Evelyn May Macdonald, nee Savory (1872–1968). Her mother, Evelyn May Savory was the eldest daughter of Reverend Ernest Lloyd Savory, Rector of Palgrave in Suffolk. Ebenezer John Macdonald was the third son of Charles Macdonald, Esq. of Greenock. Her father was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina and was a merchant. Her parents married on New Year's Day 1903 at St Paul's Church, Sao Paulo.
Little is known about Evelyn Mary Macdonald's early life in Brazil. She and her twin brother Robert Angus Macdonald (1905–1984) were born on June 1, 1905. They had four brothers: Ernest Charles Ian Macdonald (1904–1998), Ronald Campbell Macdonald (1908–2001), Norman Pemberton Macdonald (1913–1992) and Roderick Houston Macdonald (1918–1942). In 1921, sixteen-year-old Evelyn Mary was a boarder at Southlands School in Seaford, East Sussex. Her brothers Robert Angus, Ernest Charles and Ronald Campbell were students at Weymouth College in Dorset.
Career Macdonald was expected to become a companion to her parents or marry. She did neither. After considerable opposition, she became a craft teacher at Howells School in Wales.
In 1934, Macdonald attended a conference on Occupational Therapy, held in London, to hear Elizabeth Casson. She recalled that Dr Casson gave "an inspiring outline of the fundamentals of the treatment … as a contribution to a realistic way of living." She was accepted at Dorset House School with "craft teaching qualifications (N.S.A.M Craft Teachers' Certificate) and other experience."
Dorset House School of Occupational Therapy Macdonald was one of eight students who started occupational therapy training at Dorset House School, Clifton, Bristol in September 1934. She "had followed the development of occupational therapy with interest for a number of years and had covered much of the syllabus before she came."
The School was in Dorset House, a private residential clinic for patients suffering from neurotic and psychotic conditions, established by Casson in 1929. Dr Casson opened the School in 1930. It was the first School of Occupational Therapy in the United Kingdom. Alice Constance Owens, nee Tebbit (1906–1976), the first English woman to qualify as an Occupational Therapist, was the first Principal. Dr Casson described Macdonald as "one of the Schools most talented students."
Between March and June 1938, Macdonald went on a study tour of occupational therapy services in America and Canada, funded by a grant from the Pilgrim and York Trusts. She visited the Schools in Philadelphia, Toronto, Milwaukee and Boston; 44 hospitals, clinics, special schools and rehabilitation centres and met Dr William Rush Dunton Jr, co-founder of National Society for the Promotion of Occupational Therapy in 1917.
In 1938 Macdonald was appointed Principal. Macdonald was responsible for the school with 18 students and supervised patients' occupational therapy treatment at Dorset House and nearby hospitals. She planned and opened the Allendale Curative Workshop for outpatients with physical disabilities in 1939. Macdonald described this demonstration treatment unit as an "adventure in rehabilitation."
Dr Casson described Macdonald as showing a "genius for administration." In 1941, Dorset House had to relocate due to the bombing of Bristol. The patients moved to other facilities and the School went to Barnsley Hall Emergency Hospital, at Bromsgrove, Worcestershire. Casson described this as "a very arduous period of uncertainty" until the "Ministry of Health borrowed the School for the war period." They wanted to rapidly increase the number of occupational therapists able to implement wartime rehabilitation programmes.
In response, Dorset House provided six month courses subsidised by the Ministry of Health. The War Emergency Diploma Course was for physiotherapists and nurses; the 1943 Certificate Course for others with suitable qualifications and experience; and an Auxiliary Course for younger candidates prepared to work under supervision by an occupational therapist. Macdonald was responsible for allocating candidates to hospitals where the Ministry of Health required training staff. She advised and helped to open new departments. Over 200 people completed a six month course, alongside the three-year Diploma. This was a similar number to those who trained between 1930 and 1945.
The Dorset House staff led by Griselda MacCaul (1908–1996), set up "a curative workshop" at Barnsley Hall Emergency Hospital. The workshop became a model for occupational therapy in other Emergency Medical Service Hospitals in the United Kingdom.
On 29 June 1942, Macdonald's youngest brother, Lieutenant Roderick Houston Macdonald, of the Royal Horse Artillery, died. His service is commemorated at El Alamein Way War Cemetery in Egypt.
At the end of World War 2, Barnsley Hall Emergency Hospital closed and Dorset House moved again. Macdonald negotiated the tenancy of 18 Nissen huts in the grounds of Churchill Hospital, Oxford. She was described as "never happier than when planning" – the relocation, adapting the students' training until their accommodation at Haberton House in Headington, was ready.
In July 1948, Dorset House School became a non-profit-making limited company. Dr Casson remained as Medical Director and Vice Chair of the Governors. She created the Casson Trust in 1949 to support occupational therapy education, practice and research. Macdonald was one of four Trustees. In February 1972 she raised a proposal from the Association of Occupational Therapists, that the Trust fund a "high calibre" lecture at the Annual Conference. A year later, the inaugural Casson Memorial Lecture was given by Sir George Godber, Chief Medical Officer for England. The 50th Casson Lecture was held in 2023. Macdonald served as a Trustee of the Casson Trust until 1981, when she retired due to ill-health.
Macdonald and her Deputy, Betty Collins, began searching for permanent accommodation for the School in the mid 1950s. She was concerned that prospective students would be deterred by cold, leaky Nissen huts "however good the training offered." Macdonald "would sweep imperiously through such (potential) buildings, planning the School as she went." Hillstow in Headington was selected. A campaign to raise £50,000 to buy and renovate the house was started. Mr Hubert D. Savory, a relative of Macdonald on her mother's side, donated a sum specifically for the library. Dorset House moved to its first permanent accommodation in the autumn of 1964. Macdonald wore her B.Litt (Oxon) Cap and Gown at the official opening by H.R.H The Princess Marina of Kent on 9 July 1965 In the 1960s Macdonald influenced the national curriculum set by the Association of Occupational Therapists. She recommended a new, practical subject: Activities of Daily Living. The 1968 revised syllabus included the assessment and re-training of daily living skills. These skills were taught at Dorset House: students practiced in the Peto Rehabilitation Unit and in the community. Macdonald also initiated discussions with local higher education institutions about updating the course from a Diploma to a Degree.
There are a few anecdotes about Macdonald, or Mac as she was known. A Dorset House student remembered that "she lived in the school in a bed sitting room …She had a little wooden toy; if it faced the wall you knew you were in trouble. She had this sense of humour without saying anything." A mature student was surprised at the reaction to her forthcoming marriage. She was interviewed by Macdonald and her deputy and given permission on "the condition that my future husband did not ‘darken the door of Dorset House' Miss Macdonald always considered that her responsibilities were to the students and the profession and was fearful that spouses, however sympathetic, might hinder training." Staff recalled "Mac, who ruled us with a rod of iron and whose humour we only rarely experienced." Macdonald retired in July 1971. She led Dorset House, the oldest and largest School, for 33 years. During this period the annual intake increased from 18 to over 80. The School was established in Oxford where "it was respected … largely due to her dedication, drive and diplomacy in dealing with the ‘town and gown' authorities." New student accommodation, opened in 1971, was named the Mary Macdonald House "to commemorate the Principal who had done so much to get it established". More than 200 guests attended Macdonald's farewell-cum-reunion hosted by the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths'. She was presented with gifts from the Governors and alumni which "reflected the appreciation of many hundreds of people for her devotion to occupational therapy and to Dorset House through the years."
Association of Occupational Therapists Macdonald instigated the Association; acting as the secretary of the first informal committee and convening the first General Meeting where the Association was formed. As a student at Dorset House, she foresaw "the need for a body to guide and set standards for what was to be a rapidly developing profession." In the summer of 1935, she and Miss Plater when walking in the Mendip Hills, mooted a professional association. "They asked Dr Casson ‘Could a professional association be set up for Occupational Therapists?' Dr Casson's reply was characteristically brief and to the point:- ‘It's up to you!'" She arranged a meeting with Dorset House staff and students on 7 August 1935 to consider the proposal and begin planning. The meeting notes record that the remit of an Association of Occupational Therapists "could deal with standards of qualification, syllabuses, uniforms and be of use in discovering openings and recommending trainees to posts etc, etc."
Macdonald was the first secretary of an informal committee of people interested in forming an Association for English, Northern Irish and Welsh occupational therapists. Meetings were held at Dorset House and in Liverpool. She convened the General Meeting, held on 14 March at the London College of Nursing which set up the Association. A Council of 12 members, including Macdonald, were elected to lead the Association.