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Mary Slater Garrioch, daughter of John Garrioch, carter and Catherine Tait of Victoria Street, Kirkwall. My eldest sister can remember her as a tiny old lady, lying bedridden in granny's house in Bonnyrigg.
[Date estimated]
Picture added on 04 April 2011 at 19:15
I wonder what her waist measured cos it looks VERY tiny?
Added by Vivienne Rorie on 04 April 2011
A fascinating speculation Ms Rorie. I think maybe there's a wee bit of photographer's retouching involved, but assuming there isn't one can make a very rough calculation. The human head averages around 9" high. Mary Garrioch's head in the photo is 3cm high, while the diameter of her waist is 2.5cm. Corseted-in, as it must be, her waist is probably very nearly a circle in section, so it probably isn't wildly inaccurate to guesstimate its circumference at about 7.5cm. With 1cm representing 3", this gives a waist measurement of twenty-two-and-a-half inches, give or take an inch or so. Waist measurements under 25" were apparently a commonplace in young women at one time.
(Sorry to take such liberties, Ms Garrioch.)
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(Sorry to take such liberties, Ms Garrioch.)
Added by Ian Hourston on 05 April 2011
Kirkwall
