My mother, Dorothy Milne, who has died aged 92, was a doctor who began her career specialising in family planning and later became a specialist in sexual health. In retirement she was a committed charity worker supporting women who have experienced trauma, crisis and exploitation.
Born in Glasgow, Dorothy grew up in Aberdeen, attending Aberdeen high school for girls and gaining a scholarship to study medicine at Aberdeen University. There she met Ronald Milne, an engineer, and they married in 1955.
The couple moved to Stevenage in Hertfordshire, where Dorothy became a school medical officer. She was soon approached to work for the Family Planning Association, which then only served married women. Dorothy then met the pioneering family planning adviser Helen Brook, and helped her to set up the first Brook Clinic in 1964, revolutionary in offering family planning to all women. By then she and Ronald had moved to Henham in Essex with their two young children, and Dorothy was juggling domestic responsibilities with evening clinics. In 1971 the family moved to Bristol when Ronald was appointed as professor of mathematical engineering at Bristol University.
Dorothy continued her work at the Brook Advisory Centres, and also took up a post at the sexual health clinic at Bristol Royal Infirmary. She worked there for 25 years, during which time she also completed an MD. She was renowned for her calmness and humour – once disarming an embarrassing encounter with the family plumber at the clinic by saying: “you fixed my pipes, now I can fix yours”. On her retirement in 1995 the clinic was named the JD Milne Centre in her honour.
After retirement Dorothy co-founded, and for the next 15 years helped to run, the One25 charity based in St Pauls, Bristol. One25 offered a safe space and support to sex workers on the Bristol streets via a night outreach from a converted van and a daytime drop-in centre. Her experience and knowledge were an invaluable element of One25’s success.
Dorothy held a long-term Quaker belief and had many long lasting friendships across multiple generations. When Ronald became ill, she cared devotedly for him until his death in 2014. She remained true to her Scottish roots and love of the outdoors, swimming wild into her 80s, and was a keen gardener, birdwatcher and lichenologist.
She is survived by her two children, me and Douglas, and three grandchildren.
