Madge Elliot (activist)
MBE Madge Elliot | |
|---|---|
| Born | Matilda Callaghan Robson 20 June 1928 Hawick, Scotland |
| Died | 25 May 2024 (aged 95) Hawick, Scotland |
| Occupation | Rail campaigner |
Matilda (Madge) Callaghan Elliot (née Robson; 20 June 1928 – 25 May 2024) was a Scottish rail activist.
Biography
[edit]Elliot worked as a tennis coach by profession.[1] Elliot campaigned against the closure of the old Waverley Line, which ran between Edinburgh, Hawick and Carlisle, before it closed in the 1960s due to the Beeching cuts.[2] She relied on the train to Edinburgh when she was visiting her then three-year-old son in hospital.[3] In 1968, she and her local MP David Steel delivered a petition to Harold Wilson on the route.[4]
In 1999, she was given an MBE for her services to lawn tennis in the Scottish Borders.[2] The same year she helped found the Campaign for Borders Rail.[5] In 2015, a train on the Borders Railway was named in her honour.[6] She was the first passenger on the new line.[7] In 2017, she was part of an exhibition on accessability at the Scottish Parliament.[8]
Elliot died in May 2024, at the age of 95.[9] She had Alzheimer's disease.[10]
References
[edit]- ^ "Scotsman Obituaries: Madge Elliot, campaigner whose efforts to reopen Borders Railway saw a locomotive named after her". The Scotsman. 2024-07-29. Retrieved 2025-01-07.
- ^ a b "Borders Railway campaigner Madge Elliot dies aged 95". BBC News. 2024-05-27. Retrieved 2025-01-07.
- ^ "How the Borders Railway creates a new future for Scotland's "forgotten" region". The Herald. 2015-08-21. Retrieved 2025-01-07.
- ^ "Beloved railway campaigner dies at the age of 95". The Southern Reporter. 2024-05-28. Retrieved 2025-01-07.
- ^ "Borders rail campaigner Madge Elliot takes front seat". BBC News. 2015-07-26. Retrieved 2025-01-07.
- ^ "Train is named after rail campaigner Madge Elliot". BBC News. 2015-06-03. Retrieved 2025-01-07.
- ^ "Campaigner is the first 'passenger' on new Borders line". www.railmagazine.com. Retrieved 2025-01-07.
- ^ "Story of Madge Elliot MBE forms part of new Scottish Parliament exhibition". John Lamont. 2017-03-01. Retrieved 2025-01-07.
- ^ "Borders Railway campaigner Madge Elliot dies aged 95". BBC News. 2024-05-27. Retrieved 2025-01-07.
- ^ "'We will certainly miss her: Scottish Borders railway campaigner dies at the age of 95". ITV News. 27 May 2024.