21 November 2008

Torrance: Mission to Galilee - new exhibition Nov 21st to Dec 18th

A stunning new exhibition at the University of Dundee highlights the work of father-and-son Scottish medical missionaries David Watt Torrance and Herbert Watt Torrance, who established a mission hospital in British Palestine in the late 19th century.

The exhibition, curated by the University’s Archive and Museum Services, features images, artefacts and other material from the collections of the Torrances, medical missionaries at the Scots Mission Hospital in Tiberias.

David Watt Torrance established a hospital at Tiberias in what was then British Palestine in 1884. The hospital was notable as being the first in the area open to people of any race or religion. He was succeeded as superintendent of the hospital by his son, Herbert Watt Torrance, who received an OBE for his work there. Although Herbert Torrance retired in 1953 and the hospital closed in 1959, the Church of Scotland maintained the buildings as a hospice and later a hotel.

After retiring, Dr H.W. Torrance worked for a spell near Chichester before moving back to Scotland in 1961 to work as a GP in Dundee. He died in 1977.

Both men were keen photographers and the collection in the University Archives contains around 2,000 images dating from the late 19th to the mid 20th centuries. The photographs and slides show the changes in the area which became part of Israel in 1948. As well as people and medical conditions, the Torrance’s interest in flowers, animals and archaeology is well represented.

The exhibition is in the Tower Foyer, Tower Building, University of Dundee and runs from 21 November-18 December 2008, For more information see www.dundee.ac.uk/archives/torranceex2008.htm.

For media enquiries contact:
Roddy Isles
Head, Press Office
University of Dundee
Nethergate Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384910
E-MAIL: r.isles@dundee.ac.uk