Doyenne of news reporters who fought for rights of women journalists

Born: September 2, 1926;

Died: December 12, 2017

ETHEL Simpson, who has died aged 91, was a journalist and the doyenne of women reporters in the north-east of Scotland who was known throughout her 40-year career for fighting fearlessly for the rights of women journalists.

A farmer’s daughter, she was born at Burnside near Banff before the family settled at North Affleck, Whiterashes, a hamlet in the Formartine area of Aberdeenshire. She lived there for the next 72 years.

She was educated at Keithhall primary school and then at Inverurie Academy, which she left at just 14. She joined Aberdeen Journals as a shorthand typist after a course at Webster’s College. Her excellent communication skills were swiftly noted though and she transferred to the Press and Journal’s editorial staff. She said: “I was the first girl to start raw as a junior reporter on the Aberdeen Press and Journal, totally raw. At 17 in 1944, I started right at the nitty gritty rock bottom."

She moved steadily up the ranks, ultimately rising to the role of chief reporter. With the late Pearl Murray, the features editor, they were formidable journalists and amongst the pioneers of women in the media in Scotland.

Their reputation as strong-minded female journalists is illustrated in a tale about a pub close to Broad Street much used by Aberdeen Journals’ staff, almost all of them men. The pub was so small it had only one lavatory which had a large Men Only sign on the door. A young journalist drinking there one night observed Simpson using this facility and pointed this out to the owner. The proprietrix, Poppy Mitchell, was indignant, raised her eyebrows and observed haughtily: "Ethel and Pearl don’t count as women – they are reporters!"

The City Bar was the main haunt for Aberdeen journalists. Ethel, who enjoyed a tipple, loved holding court there and mixing with the granite city’s great and good, including city councillors and officials, solicitors and advocates from the nearby courts.

She was a fervent socialite and with her farming background knew all the bothy ballads, some of which are considered near the bone. The broadcaster James Naughtie worked with Ethel Simpson and recalls her as a stalwart friend. "She seemed to embody the story of the paper, knowing its hinterland intimately and understanding its voice and its readers," he said. "On top of all that, she was the life and soul of the party.

“For me, like so many others, the years roll back easily and I can remember so many good times – usually with Ethel on the news desk telling a story, puzzling over a peculiar death notice, explaining to a new reporter the twisted back roads of Aberdeenshire. Caring about the paper, and having fun too. A precious colleague”

When they came under her wing in the office and out on the road, Ethel Simpson nurtured trainees. She helped them to polish their reporting skills and mentored them about accuracy and integrity.

She was a staunch royalist who later in life canvassed for the Conservative Party at elections, but she never allowed her political affiliations to influence her journalistic values. Retirement gave her the freedom to campaign in elections, doing door to door leafleting on behalf of her local candidates. She also used her journalistic skills to fire off stinging letters to newspapers about the state of affairs in her constituency.

Her colleagues describe her as a vivacious woman who regarded the editorial team around her as her second family. One of them, Susan Dean, said: “I feel so very, very sad. Ethel was a marvellous woman, who was a mentor to young journalists and a trail-blazer in the profession. I, like many others, held her in great affection."

Ethel Simpson had increasing ill health but was sanguine about it. She insisted she was coping and wanted to maintain her independence right to the end.

Her daughter Emma said: “She wanted to end her days at her beloved North Affleck and pretty much did so, apart from those two final weeks in hospital. These were tough, but it could have been so much worse. She didn't want to be a burden on anyone. My mother was resilient, determined and selfless to the very end.”

Hamish Mackay, who was head of news at the P&J, knew Ethel as a colleague and friend for 50 years. He said: "Ethel had a heart of gold and was generous in every respect. She was always concerned about the welfare of others. In retirement, she launched an annual social gathering for former and largely retired colleagues at Aberdeen Cricket Club. It was a highlight of the city’s social calendar.

“We will miss her kindness, her jollity, her respect for both man and beast and her dismissiveness of any airs and graces and affectation.”

Ethel Simpson is survived by her daughter, Emma, a business correspondent with the BBC, her son-in-law Neil, and grandchildren Alex and James.

BILL HEANEY