07-03-2025
Historian tells the untold tales of over 150 Inverclyde women in new book
AN INVERCLYDE writer and historian is using his latest book to shine a spotlight on the stories of over 150 local women.
Vincent Gillen is diving into the Inverclyde's history once again with his new book, The Woman's Realm – Stories of Inverclyde Women, which focuses on the untold tales of some of the areas most important ladies.
The author says his latest work aims to further examine the stories of some of the women he's come across in his 30 years of writing about the area's industrial and wartime history.
He will be delivering a talk about the book at the Wyllieum in Greenock on Saturday at 1pm to coincide with International Women's Day, with copies of the book available at the event.
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Tickets for the event can be purchased at and copies of the book can be bought from
Vincent told the Tele that women in his own life had played a part in inspiring him to write the book.
He said: 'Part of it was that I was thinking about the women in my life, I lost my sister last year and that kind of brought it on.
'It's dedicated to the memory of my mum and my sister.
'I think through reading everything about the Me-Too movement and all the rest of it and women standing up for themselves you realise how much you have to appreciate the women in your life.
'The book features 150 women that have connections with Greenock and Inverclyde who have stories to tell that haven't been told before.
(Image: George Munro) 'Having done books on industry and war for the last 30 years, women have always been in the background of these stories, but there's never been enough to tell it all.
'The idea is just to pick out the women I've come across before and put them all into one book to tell their story.'
The book features a wide variety of women from all walks of life, including suffragettes, missionaries, local nobility and more.
Vincent added: 'It covers topics like politics, religion and health, you've also got the ladies of Inverclyde, such as the Shaw Stewarts.
'For example, we've got Caroline Ann Gamble of the Gamble Halls in Gourock and we tell her story, there's a whole lot more to that than people know.
'She married someone 36 years older than her and was left a fortune and the book looks at what she did with that money.
'There are also the stories of 12 missionary women who left Gourock to go to India and China.
'There's the remarkable story of three sisters that left in 1830 to go to India and spread their religion.
'And we've got the stories of the first doctors in Britain, one of them was married to a Greenock man.
'Almost every topic you can think of there's a Greenock connection.'
The book spans from the early 1680s with the story of Lady Shaw right up to the 1940s, where it examines the lives of some local lady artists.
Vincent believes the book, and his other works, have demonstrated the profound impact that people from Inverclyde have been able to have on the area and the world beyond it.
He said: 'This book is about the role of women and how you realise that you don't hear about them.
'They're always referred to as Mrs John Smith or whatever, they're never given their first names.
'It can be difficult to find out about them because they're always referred to as the property of the man.
'You can do small pieces on each one but then you realise it all creates a big picture of what women have gone through and they've just been treated awfully.
'This is sort of a culmination of about 30 years' worth of research, I've picked up pieces on individuals as I've gone along which were almost like small stories but when I put them together I've ended up with over 150."
