The nappy changer...
Scots mother who made first disposables dies, aged 94
SHE was a humble Scots mother, fed up with the monotony of washing and ironing her babies’ nappies.
Today, parents all over the world should spare a thought for Valerie Hunter-Gordon – the inventor of the disposable nappy – who has died at the age of 94.
On Sunday, the mother of six passed away peacefully at home in Beauly, Inverness-shire.
At the age of 24, Mrs Hunter-Gordon transformed the lives of mothers and fathers everywhere by designing the world’s first throwaway nappy – the Paddi. It was while living nearly 600 miles south of her home town, at an Army Staff College in Surrey with her husband Patrick, that she first had her idea.
Desperate for an alternative to the drudgery of washing and reusing nappies and with a third child on the way, the Army officer’s wife was amazed to find nobody had thought of a throwaway version.
So she began fashioning her first two-part prototype using her Singer sewing machine.
After she perfected her design, the throwaway pad inside was made of a mix of cellulose tissue wadding and cotton wool, which were put in adjustable waterproofed pants, fastened with poppers and a cord round the waste.
As the granddaughter of inventor Sir Vincent de Ferranti, she was able to use the family’s industry contacts to get the Paddi patented, and by 1950, her two-part disposable nappy was sold in the UK, reaching the US a year later. In a 2005 interview, she said: ‘I don’t know how I would have managed without [my disposable nappy] and other mothers seem to agree. Just look at how many use disposable nappies nowadays.’
In the 1960s, the product went into decline with the arrival of Pampers and the all-in-one nappy.
In a statement, her family said: ‘Valerie was pragmatic and insightful with a wicked sense of humour and an ability to get straight to the nub of the matter.’
A spokesman for Paddi maker Robinson Packaging said ‘she played a huge part in our history’.
National Museums Scotland senior curator Dorothy Kidd said the disposable nappy was chosen by staff as one of ‘the most important objects of the 20th century’.