Marjorie Doggett

Marjorie Doggett (née Millest, 21 January 1921 – 15 August 2010) was a Singaporean animal welfare advocate, architectural photographer, and heritage conservationist. She was a founding member of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Singapore. Her 1957 photo-book, Characters of Light, was the first book to capture Singapore's urban landscape and the first local photographic book by a woman. Her prints and films are preserved at the National Archives of Singapore. Early life Doggett was born in Hastings on 31 January 1921. She was the second daughter of Frank and Edith Millest. She attended Wallington High School for Girls. Her earliest experience with animals was spending time with them on her grandfather's farm. When she was sixteen, she heard a talk given by her headmistress about laboratory animals used in the school and felt that they were being made to suffer. In an interview by The Straits Times, she described how, as a teenager, she was taught the basic skills of film development and printing by a local chemist. Since then, she had continued photography on her own, compiling her first album in April 1940.