{{Short description|Scottish nurse, registrar and salmon fisher}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox person | name = Georgina Ballantine | birth_date = 25 November 1889 | birth_place = Caputh, Perth and Kinross, Scotland | death_date = {{death date and age|1970|4|12|1889|11|25|df=yes}} | death_place = Caputh, Perth and Kinross, Scotland | known_for = Landed a {{Convert|64|lb|kg|adj=on}} salmon on the River Tay, the largest recorded from a British river with rod and line }}
'''Georgina Ballantine''' (25 November 1889 – 12 April 1970) was a Scottish nurse, registrar and salmon fisher. In 1922, Ballantine landed a 64lb (29kg) salmon on the River Tay, the largest recorded from a British river with rod and line.
== Early life == Georgina Ballantine was born on 25 November 1889, in Caputh, Perth and Kinross, Scotland. Her mother was Christina White and her father was James Ballantine, a registrar and ghillie.{{Cn|date=June 2025}}
== Career == Ballantine worked as a Voluntary Aid Detachment nurse from 1914 to 1919, in Perth,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Record |url=https://vad.redcross.org.uk/record |access-date=2025-06-30 |website=WW1 Volunteers {{!}} British Red Cross |language=en}}</ref> London and Bapaume, France. It was in France that she was decorated by the Red Cross. She later worked as registrar in Caputh.<ref name=":0" />
== Record landing of the Great Tay Salmon == [[File:River Tay at Kinclaven - geograph.org.uk - 1011584.jpg|thumb|Ballantine caught her salmon beside the River Tay]] On 7 October 1922, Ballantine was fishing with her father on Glendelvine Water, a salmon fishing pool on the River Tay. Following a two-hour struggle, she landed a {{Convert|64|lb|kg|adj=on}} salmon, the largest recorded taken from a British river with rod and line,<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |title=The biographical dictionary of Scottish women : from the earliest times to 2004 |date=2006 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |others=Elizabeth Ewan, Sue Innes, Sian Reynolds |isbn=978-0-7486-2660-1 |location=Edinburgh |oclc=367680960}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=1922-10-14|title=64lb. Salmon|language=English|pages=1|work=Hull Daily Mail}}</ref> half Ballantine's own weight.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=McPherson|first=Rozanne|date=17 November 1966|title=NEVER A FISH LIKE THAT: Forty-four years after it happened Miss Georgina Ballantine recalls her battle with Britain's record salmon|journal=The Field|volume=228|issue=5940|pages=993}}</ref> The salmon, known as the Great Tay Salmon, was {{Convert|54|in|cm}} in length and {{Convert|28.5|in|cm}} in girth.<ref>{{Cite journal|date=21 October 1922|title=THE GREAT TAY SALMON|journal=The Field|volume=140|issue=3643|pages=600}}</ref>
Her record was unchallenged until 2007, when another female angler, Bev Street, broke the record for largest caught freshwater fish by landing a 66lb catfish at Bluebell Lakes in Peterborough.<ref>{{Cite news|date=2007|title=Woman angler lands record 66lb catfish by a whisker; Previous record: Georgina Ballantine with her 64lb salmon in 1922.|page=25|work=The London Evening Standard (London, England)}}</ref> Ballantine retains the record for the largest rod caught salmon.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2006-12-13|title=FLY FISHING - Freshwater Records - your online Fly Fishing Resource and fishing tackle shop.|url=http://www.ukfishersonline.com/freshwater-records.html|access-date=2021-03-31|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061213091257/http://www.ukfishersonline.com/freshwater-records.html|archive-date=2006-12-13}}</ref>
A watercolour painting by A. J. Rennie depicting the fish hung in the dining room of the Flyfishers Club in London, despite the fact that Ballantine, as a woman, would not be admitted to the gentlemen's club.<ref>{{Cite news|date=1934-02-23|title=Tay Gave Britain Its Biggest Salmon|language=English|pages=8|work=Evening Telegraph}}</ref>
Ballantine's salmon was donated to Perth Royal Infirmary, and a cast was donated to the Pall Mall angling emporium.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Brook-Shepherd|first=Gordon|date=March 1990|title=Where Miss Ballantine met a giant|journal=The Field|volume=274|issue=7026|pages=51}}</ref> A model is exhibited in a display in Perth Museum with a commentary in the voice of Ballantine.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Miss Ballantine's Salmon |url=https://perthmuseum.co.uk/star-object/miss-ballantines-salmon/ |access-date=2025-03-08 |website=Perth Museum |language=en-GB}}</ref>
== Later life and death == In her later life, Ballantine experienced severe arthritis in both legs, and as a result they were both amputated.<ref name=":0" /> Ballantine died in 1970, aged 80, in Caputh.<ref name=":0" />
== References == {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ballantine, Georgina}} Category:1889 births Category:1970 deaths Category:British fishermen Category:Scottish nurses Category:People from Perth and Kinross Category:20th-century Scottish women Category:Angling records Category:Voluntary Aid Detachment nurses Category:20th-century British nurses