Historical information

20 year old Scot, Jessie Anderson, practises her putting at Royal Melbourne Golf Course. The press speculated that her heavily bandaged wrist was “a sprained wrist, occasioned through an argument with her luggage”, “a poisoned hand” and, the most likely reason, “sprained at practise”.

Photographer notations on slide: "England Anderson Miss B98"
Description: Female golfer putting. She is wearing two-tone brogue shoes, a hand-knitted cardigan, beret and skirt. Her left wrist is bandaged.

Research by project volunteer, Fiona Collyer:
20 year old Jessie Anderson photographed at the Royal Melbourne Golf Club with a heavily bandaged left wrist. She was part of the British golf team who competed in the Australian Women’s Golf Championship at Royal Melbourne Golf Club in 1935. The press speculated that Jessie had a “sprained wrist, occasioned through an argument with her luggage”, “a poisoned hand” and the most likely reason – “sprained her wrist at practise”. She was defeated in the first round by Victorian, Miss Mona MacLeod.

Janet "Jessie" Anderson (1915-2006) was a Scottish golf champion, nicknamed “Wee Jessie” for her small stature. She was also nicknamed “Fairway Maid of Perth”, a play on Sir Walter Scott’s “Fair Maid of Perth”.

In 1937, Jessie was the world’s number one ranking woman golfer. Her main wins included the British Women's Amateur Championship (1937, 1955, 1958), the Scottish Women's Amateur Championship (1938, 1939, 1951, 1953, 1955, 1958), the New Zealand Women's Golf Championship (1935) and the French Women's Golf Tournament (1936).

Jessie was part of the British golf team who competed in the Australian Women’s Golf Championship against an Australian team at Royal Melbourne Golf Club in 1935, which the British team won. The Australian press said, “Hats off to the British women, sparkle, sportsmanship and the fighting spirit that thrills, they had the last word.”
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Jessie’s father, Joe, a pro-golfer, owned a sports equipment store in St John’s Street, Perth and he designed and manufactured golf clubs under the OK brand. Jessie designed golf clubs especially for women.

In 1939 Jessie became engaged to George Valentine. In 1940, George enlisted in the British army and Jessie in the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS), the women’s branch of the British Army, driving army ambulances. George was a POW at Eichstat, Germany, and they were unable to marry until he was freed in 1945. Jessie continued to play championship golf until 1960. They had one son, Francis Iain, born 1948.

Jessie was awarded the MBE for services to golf in 1959. She was inducted into the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame in 2003. In 2019, Perth Museum and Art Gallery held a retrospective exhibition of her life and career. A biography, “Wee Jessie: Jessie Valentine, whose golf swing lasted a lifetime” by Dr Eve Soulsby, was published in 2019.

Physical description

Glass slide