Tina Gray

Glasgow Shipyard, where Gray's father owned ships

the Glasgow School of Art

Tina Gray was born in Helensburgh, one of the seven children of Norah Neilson and George Gray. George Gray was a ship owner in Glasgow.[1] During Gray's childhood, the family enjoyed some affluence, but the shipping industry suffered badly following the First World War, and the family's wealth suffered as a result.[2] Tina was homeschooled, and went on to study drawing and painting at the Glasgow School of Art from 1901–1903.[2] Her sister, the 'Glasgow Girl' Norah Neilson Gray, also studied at the Glasgow School of Art and enjoyed international recognition until her untimely death in 1931.[2]

A painting of a military hospital by Gray's sister, Norah Neilson Gray

Gray, like her sister, volunteered during World War I. While Gray's sister volunteered with the suffragist-affiliated Scottish Women's Hospitals, Gray volunteered as a nurse with the British Red Cross.[3] She was based at the 25th stationary hospital in Rouen, a British military hospital for infectious diseases,[4] where she was given the award of one scarlet stripe.[5]

In 1925, Gray graduated from the University of Glasgow aged 41 with a medical degree and eventually became the assistant surgeon at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary.[6] She was one of only two female senior surgeons in Scotland at that time.[7]

During World War II, Gray was appointed as a surgeon at Dunfermline and Stonehouse hospitals.[6] Gray retired from Glasgow Royal Infirmary in 1946, and remained at Stonehouse until late 1947.[8]

Gray was a member of the Glasgow and West of Scotland Lady Artists' Society (elected 1939). She died aged 100 in 1985.[4]