‘My dears, if you are successful over this work, you will ...time under canvas- in Troyes, France. Dr Louisa McIlroy was head of the surgical ward, whereas Dr Laura Sandeman was

Dr Elizabeth Garret Anderson (the first woman to qualify in medicine in Britain), whilst addressing volunteers of the SWH in 1914. Royal Free Hospital Press Cuttings, Book 5, p. 86.

‘My dears, if you are successful over this work, you will have carried women’s profession forward a hundred years:’

The Case of the Scottish Women’s Hospital For Foreign Service

GUID: 2343826C

Title: ‘My dears, if you are successful over this work, you will have

carried women’s profession forward a hundred years:’ The Case

of the Scottish Women’s Hospital For Foreign Service

Course: MLitt History (with an Emphasis on the History of Medicine)

Supervisor: Prof Malcolm Nicolson

Word count: 14784

September 2018, University of Glasgow

i

List of Abbreviations

Ass Assistant AssMO(H) Assistant Medical Officer (of Health) Aus Australia/Australian BA Bachelor of Arts BAO Bachelor of Obstetrics BCh Bachelor of Surgery BDS Bachelor of Dental Surgery BMA British Medical Association BMJ British Medical Journal BS Bachelor of Surgery BSc Bachelor of Science Can Canada/Canadian CBE Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire ChB Bachelor of Surgery ChM Master of Surgery Clin Clinical CMO Chief Medical Officer DBE Dame of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire DLO Diploma in Laryngology & Otology DMRE Diploma in Medical Radiology & Electrology DOMS Diploma of Opthalmic Medicine and Surgery DPH Diploma in Public Health Dr Doctor DSc Doctor of Science DTM(&H) Diploma in Tropical Medicine (& Hygiene) EMS Emergency Medical Service Eng England/English FRACS Fellow of the Royal Austral(as)ian College of Surgeons FRCOG Fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists FRCP Lond Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of London FRCPI Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland FRCPE Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh FRCSE Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh FRCS Eng Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England FRCSI Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland GMC General Medical Council GP General Practitioner Ho House Hon Honorary i/c In charge Jr Junior L(R)FPS Glas Licentiate of the (Royal) Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow LCC London County Council LDS Licentiate in Dental Surgery LL.D Doctor of Laws LM Licentiate in Midwifery LMCC Licentiate of the Medical Council of Canada LMSSA Licentiate in Medicine and Surgery of the Society of Apothecaries LRCP Edin Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh LRCP Lond Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians of London

ii

LRCS Edin Licentiate of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh LSA Licentiate of the Society of Apothecaries LSMW London School of Medicine for Women (Royal Free Hospital) MA Master of Arts MB BCh BAO Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery, Bachelor of Obstetrics (Ireland) MB BS Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery MB ChB Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery MBE Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire MCP&S Ont Member of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario MD Doctor of Medicine MO Medical Officer MOH Medical Officer of Health MRCOG Member of the Royal College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists MRCPE Member of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh MRCP Lond Member of the Royal College of Physicians of London MRCPI Member of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland MRCSE Member of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh MRCS Eng Member of the Royal College of Surgeons of England MRCSI Member of the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland MS Master of Surgery NUWSS National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies Nat Sc Tri Natural Science Tripos (University of Cambridge) NZ New Zealand OBE Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire PhD Doctor of Philosophy Phys Physician Prof Professor QMAAC Queen Mary’s Army Auxiliary Corps, formerly Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps QMC Queen Margaret College Glasgow RAMC Royal Army Medical Corps RCPI Royal College of Physicians of Ireland RCS Eng Royal College of Surgeons of England RCSI Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland Res Resident ResMO(H) Resident Medical Officer (of Health) Roy Soc Med Royal Society of Medicine School MO School Medical Officer Scot Scotland/Scottish Soc MOH Society of Medical Officers of Health Sr Senior Surg Surgical/surgeon SWH Scottish Women’s Hospitals for Foreign Service TB Tuberculosis VD Venereal Disease WSPU Women’s Social and Political Union WW1 The First World War WW2 The Second World War

iii

Lists of Figures and Tables

Figure 1. Medals awarded to Dr Agnes Savill ........................................................................... 25

Table 1. Academic origins of SWH doctors .............................................................................. 16

Table 2. Nationalities of SWH doctors ..................................................................................... 17

Table 3. Marital status of SWH doctors ................................................................................... 18

Table 4. Additional qualifications of SWH doctors .................................................................. 24

Table 5. Medals and distinctions awarded to SWH doctors. ................................................... 27

Table 6. SWH doctors’ careers before and after the War........................................................ 33

Table 7. Number of SWH doctors awarded fellowships .......................................................... 34

iv

Acknowledgements

First of all, I would like to thank Prof Malcolm Nicolson for being the best supervisor I could

ever have wished for. Not only did he bring the existence of the Scottish Women’s Hospitals

under my attention in the first place, he has also guided me throughout this project. He has

done way more for me than he was ever obliged to do, I could not have done this without his

help. Thank you.

Secondly, I must thank Carol Parry who was so kind as to introduce me to the SWH on a more

personal level and to show me around the available sources. Her work on the Girton and

Newnham Unit, together with Elaine Morrison, has been vital for this project. I feel honoured

to share my work with her now that it is done.

Furthermore, I am grateful for the financial help of the Douglas Guthrie Trust (Scottish Society

for the History of Medicine), which allowed me to travel to the University of Aberdeen and

have a source from the University of Sheffield digitised. They have been most generous.

Lastly, I am indebted to the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow where the

staff have been incredibly helpful and I spent many an hour spitting through their collection

of Medical Directories and other sources. I have always felt most welcome and the venue is

truly inspirational.

And before I forget it, I would like to thank my intelligent friends and flatmates for reading and

criticising my work as it was taking shape. Your feedback has helped my academic writing skills

improve enormously, and I will benefit from those for the rest of my life.

Marlène Cornelis

v

Abstract

The Scottish Women’s Hospitals for Foreign Service (SWH) was a women’s organisation that

equipped fourteen women’s hospital units across Europe during the First World War. About

one hundred female doctors of different backgrounds served with the SWH. The aim of this

study was to investigate how the experiences of women doctors during the First World War

affected their later careers. This cohort study included the 92 women doctors who survived

the War, as well as another 6 volunteers who qualified in medicine shortly after the War. By

studying their publications, (auto)biographies, obituaries, genealogical databases and entries

in the Medical Directory, their lives and careers were reconstructed. This study argues that,

even though war-time service undoubtedly had an enormous impact on these individuals on

a personal level, the beneficial effects on this group of brave and forward-thinking women

doctors, as a whole, were negligible.

vi

Contents

Introduction ................................................................................................................................1

Chapter 1. Method ......................................................................................................................5

Chapter 2. Defining the Cohort ...................................................................................................7

Chapter 3. Active Service ............................................................................................................8

Calais ......................................................................................................................................8

Royaumont .............................................................................................................................9

The Girton and Newnham Unit ........................................................................................... 11

Serbia & Russia.................................................................................................................... 12

Other units .......................................................................................................................... 13

The Scottish Women’s Hospitals? ....................................................................................... 14

Aftermath ............................................................................................................................ 15

Chapter 4. Origins .................................................................................................................... 16

Alma Mater ......................................................................................................................... 16

Nationality........................................................................................................................... 17

Chapter 5. Marriage ................................................................................................................. 18

Getting Married .................................................................................................................. 18

The Marriage Bar ................................................................................................................ 20

Chapter 6. Additional qualifications ........................................................................................ 22

At Time of Service ............................................................................................................... 22

After the War ...................................................................................................................... 22

Chapter 7. Honours .................................................................................................................. 25

Chapter 8. Feminists ................................................................................................................ 28

Chapter 9. Post-war Careers .................................................................................................... 31

Career Trends ...................................................................................................................... 31

Fellowships.......................................................................................................................... 34

Consultancy Positions ......................................................................................................... 35

Professorships ..................................................................................................................... 35

World War II ........................................................................................................................ 36

Chapter 10. Medical Students .................................................................................................. 39

Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 43

Bibliography ............................................................................................................................. 46

Appendix 1 ............................................................................................................................... 50

1

Introduction

Around the turn of the twentieth century, first-wave feminism was peaking. Women had

finally secured entry to a number of British medical schools and the first medical women were

licenced to practice. But the fight for gender equality was far from over, and women’s suffrage

was still a long way to go. The National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS), headed

by Millicent Fawcett, was founded in 1897 and united several smaller women’s organisations.

In 1903 Emmeline Pankhurst left the NUWSS and founded the militant Women’s Social and

Political Union (WSPU). They went their separate ways, but both continued to advocate the

right to vote. The NUWSS believed in a democratic approach, whereas the WSPU radicalised

and caused controversy with its militant actions. Henceforth, the women’s movement was

divided into law-abiding ‘suffragists,’ and extremist ‘suffragettes.’ However, everything

changed when Britain declared war on Germany on 4 August 1914. Both suffragists and

suffragettes decided to temporarily ‘lay down their weapons,’ and focus their energy on the

war effort instead. The outbreak of war was considered an opportunity for women to prove

themselves citizens worthy of the vote.

Among them was famous Scottish gynaecologist and suffragist Dr Elsie Inglis (1864-1917), who

founded the Scottish Women’s Hospitals for Foreign Service (SWH) in 1914. She had been

honorary secretary of the Edinburgh National Society of Women’s Suffrage in the 1890s and

later fulfilled the same role in the Scottish Federation of Women’s Suffrage Societies.1 With

financial support from the NUWSS, she was able to offer the War Office two fully equipped,

all-female hospital units of 100 beds each.2 In response, she received the oft-quoted reply ‘My

good lady, go home and sit still.’ Undaunted, Dr Elsie Inglis subsequently contacted Britain’s

allies. France and Serbia, among others, were only too glad to accept the offer.

Over the course of the First World War, the SWH successfully equipped and sent out fourteen

hospital units, (almost)3 fully staffed by women. They were dispatched to France, Belgium,

Serbia, Greece, Macedonia, Malta, Corsica, Russia and Romania. The first opened briefly in

Calais and was commanded by Dr Alice Hutchison, who had been working in the Balkan Wars

previously. A second unit, under the capable leadership of Dr Frances Ivens, was set up in a

1 Leah Leneman, "Inglis, Elsie Maud," Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-34101?rskey=KuKIiy&result=1. 2 M.F. Weiner, "The Scottish Women's Hospital at Royaumont, France 1914-1919," J R Coll Physicians Edinb 44, no. 4 (2014): p. 328. 3 For more on this topic, see Chapter 2. Defining the Cohort and The Scottish Women’s Hospitals?.

2

thirteenth-century abbey in Royaumont, just north of Paris. A third, funded by the two

Cambridge colleges, came to be known as the Girton and Newnham Unit. It was opened -this

time under canvas- in Troyes, France. Dr Louisa McIlroy was head of the surgical ward, whereas

Dr Laura Sandeman was in charge of the medical cases. This unit was so successful that the

French authorities invited it to accompany the French Expeditionary Forces (l’Armée d’Orient)

to the Eastern Mediterranean. The unit then moved to Salonica (contemporary Thessaloniki

in Greece) under the sole charge of Dr McIlroy.4 Dr Elsie Inglis herself took over the first Serbian

field hospital in Kraguievatz, after the original Chief Medical Officer (CMO) had fallen ill. The

heroic deeds of the SWH in Serbia received a lot of attention from the press when Dr Inglis

and a few others refused to leave their Serbian patients behind. They were taken prisoner by

the Germans and were not heard of for four months. In the end, they were released and

repatriated via Switzerland. Dr Inglis later returned to the Eastern Front to lead the so-called

London Unit in Russia and Romania. She died of cancer on 26 November 1917, the day she set

foot on British soil again.5

The aim of this study is to investigate how the experiences of women doctors during the First

World War affected their later careers. Dr Inglis’ career ended in 1917 and is therefore of little

relevance. So, rather than focussing on the much-covered and well-known achievements of

Dr Elsie Inglis,6 this study seeks to give a voice to all female doctors that served with the SWH

during the First World War and lived to tell the tale. The SWH provides an exceptional cohort

of early medical women to follow up over time. By studying publications, (auto)biographies,

obituaries, genealogical databases and entries in the Medical Directory, their lives and careers

are reconstructed.

This retrospective cohort study is very similar to those undertaken by Laura Kelly7 on early

Irish medical women, Wendy Alexander8 on early Glasgow graduates and Rosa McMillan9 on

4 E. Morrison and C. Parry, "The Scottish Women's Hospitals for Foreign Service--the Girton and Newnham Unit, 1915-1918," J R Coll Physicians Edinb 44, no. 4 (2014). 5 Leneman, "Inglis, Elsie Maud". 6 See for example Leah Leneman’s work: Elsie Inglis: Founder of Battlefield Hospitals Run Entirely by Women, Scots' Lives (Edinburgh: National Museums of Scotland, 1998); In the Service of Life: The Story of Elsie Inglis and the Scottish Women's Hospitals (Edinburgh: Mercat Press, 1994). 7 Laura Kelly, Irish Women in Medicine, C.1880s-1920s: Origins, Education and Careers (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2012). 8 Wendy Alexander, First Ladies of Medicine: The Origins, Education and Destination of Early Women Medical Graduates of Glasgow University (Glasgow: University of Glasgow Wellcome Unit for the History of Medicine, 1987). 9 Rosa McMillan, "Women in Pathology at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary: 'The Glasgow Royal Infirmary Has VISION without Which the People Perish.'" (Unpublished dissertation, University of Glasgow, 2018).

3

women in the pathological department of the Glasgow Royal Infirmary during the first half of

the twentieth century. These will therefore be used for comparison and discussion. It must be

noted, however, that there is considerable overlap, for Alexander’s cohort included nine

women who served with the SWH, McMillan’s study included two, and Kelly’s cohort listed

one.

The first chapter outlines the methodology. It elaborates on the study process and how the

results (see Appendix 1) were obtained. The subsequent chapter explains how the cohort was

defined. The third chapter is dedicated to these doctors’ war work. To enable analysis of the

effects of the War on their later careers, it is important to understand what they experienced

during the War in the first place. What was it that they did exactly? How were they

organised?10 Did they really do everything without the help of men? What cases did they tend

to and how did their volunteer hospitals relate to those of the Royal Army Medical Corps

(RAMC)? The fourth chapter will briefly focus on the origins of these women. The first part lists

which universities they had graduated from, and the second explores their nationalities. Were

the Scottish Women’s Hospitals really Scottish? The fifth chapter is dedicated to marriage.

Contemporaries feared that medical women would refrain from matrimony and not have

children, which incited all sorts of eugenic concerns. The results of this study will illustrate that

these fears were not warranted, for the proportion of women doctors who married was

slightly lower than the national average, but not as little as was feared. The second half of this

chapter discusses the marriage bar, which was still very much intact during the first half of the

twentieth century. This segment will illustrate that only a small proportion of the women

doctors ceased practice upon marriage. It also demonstrates how these women challenged

the marriage bar throughout the years. Chapter six lists and discusses the these women’s

academic qualifications; which are subdivided into pre-war, post-war and overall diplomas.

This allows for comparison of pre- and post-war qualifications. This section will show that the

SWH doctors were generally well-qualified and that some of them were exceptional. The

distribution of specialised qualifications, however, confirms that most women worked in

sectors deemed ‘appropriate’ for women: diseases of women, midwifery, paediatrics, public

health and missionary work. The subsequent chapter challenges the assumption that these

women were not decorated or honoured for their war-time services. It shows which medals

they were awarded and by whom. It also lists medals and titles that were awarded for

10 This has been extensively covered elsewhere, see for example the work of Leneman, Crofton, Weiner and Morrison & Parry.

4

achievements unrelated to the War. These are illustrative for the degree of success of their

careers, and correspondingly highlight the nature of their achievements. Chapter eight seeks

an answer to the following question: how feminist was the rank-and-file SWH doctor? The

figureheads of the organisation (e.g. Dr Inglis, Dr Ivens, Dr Aldrich-Blake and Dr Martindale),

were centrepieces of the British women’s movement around the turn of the century. But were

all members of the SWH equally zealous feminists? In the ninth chapter the core of this project

comes to the fore. It describes the main results of the study; what happened to these doctors

after the War? Where did they go and what did they do? By studying their post-war careers,

general trends are explored. It is particularly interesting to examine what they specialised in,

(if they hadn’t already) and to define the extent of success in their later careers. Were there

any women who managed to break free from the few fields of medicine that were considered

‘appropriate’ for women? Did any one of them secure a fellowships from a prestigious college,

obtain a consultancy position or make it to professorship? And what were their roles during

the Second World War? The tenth and last chapter is dedicated especially to a small group of

women who were not yet a qualified doctor at their time of service, either because they served

as medical students or because they took up medical studies after the War. They deserve extra

attention because, on return from active service, they had no pre-existing careers to fall back

on. They can therefore be considered ‘naïve,’ and thus particularly susceptible to the

influences of war-time service. This chapter will highlight a number of these dynamics.

In the conclusion the results of this study will be compared with those of similar studies and

its conclusions will be compared to the available historiography. Did women’s war-time efforts

prove valuable in advancing women’s position in the long run? Anecdotal evidence of how the

War affected these women’s careers on a more personal level is explored throughout the

chapters of this dissertation. It has found examples of long-time friendships, role models

taking on a protégée, and two doctors that brought their experience from the First World War

to good use in the Second. This study will argue that, even though war-time service

undoubtedly had an enormous impact on these individuals on a personal level, the beneficial

effects on this group of brave and forward-thinking women doctors, as a whole, were

negligible.

5

Chapter 1. Method

Many women served with the Scottish Women’s Hospitals during the First World War. Most

of them served as trained nurses, orderlies, chauffeurs and clerks. A minority held a position

as a doctor. To understand how their experiences during the Great War affected these female

doctors’ later careers, it is important to define a group of women and follow them over time.

This was to be achieved by collecting data from Scarlet Finders,11 an online source that has

published original personnel files held by the Imperial War Museum, London. Entries include

full name, position, unit and time of service. It occasionally includes notes on deaths, name

changes due to marriage, promotions and transfers to other units.

The online list of SWH personnel was entered into an editable spreadsheet and sorted

alphabetically. The data was categorised according to position and unit. Separate lists of male

members of staff and doctors were introduced. The final list of medical doctors was to be the

focus of this study.

The cohort of medical women was to be defined as follows: all CMOs, doctors, bacteriologists

and dentists who served with the SWH at any given time were included. Doctors known to

have served with the SWH but who were not listed were included manually. Individuals who

qualified in medicine after their service with the SWH were also incorporated, this includes

volunteering medical students and volunteers who decided to study medicine after the War.

Male practitioners, individuals who did not possess a medical degree and doctors from outside

the British empire were excluded. Moreover, to be able to study the effects of the War on the

cohort’s careers, they had to have survived the War in the first place. Therefore doctors who

died during or shortly after the War were excluded.

Thus the cohort of female doctors was formed. It was entered into a separate spreadsheet

where gathered data were to be collected. As a starting point, these individuals were looked

up in the Medical Register.12 Since The Medical Act of 1858, every British practitioner was

required to be entered on the Medical Register to be licenced to practice. It lists full name,

address, year of entry and basic medical qualifications.

11Sue Light, "Scottish Women’s Hospitals – Index of Names," Scarlet Finders, http://www.scarletfinders.co.uk/138.html. [Accessed 16 April 2018] 12 Published annually since 1859 by The Medical Register, ed. The General Medical Council of Medical Education and Registration of the United Kingdom (London: Constable & Co. Ltd.).

6

Secondly, their careers were reconstructed by looking up their entries in the Medical

Directories13 of the years before and after the War. It was not compulsory to be entered on

the Medical Directory, nevertheless the majority of British doctors paid to be on it. The Medical

Directory is categorised according to location or position (London, the Provinces, Wales,

Scotland, Ireland, dental surgeons, the Services or abroad) and contains information on

current positions, titles, publications and qualifications. It contains more information than the

Medical Register, but it is less user-friendly and not always accurate. Hardcopies of these

publications were accessed at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, and

digitised versions were retrieved via Ancestry.co.uk.14

Additionally, a number of alternative sources was searched for further information. Some of

these women published their memoirs or autobiographies. Others had their biographies

published in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography or its international counterparts.

Obituaries published in medical journals also contain information on their lives and careers.

PubMed was used to find and access SWH doctor’s medical publications. The online (but non-

academic) genealogical source Ancestry.co.uk was searched for information on birth, death

and nationality. Lastly, a simple open search using Google occasionally resulted in newspaper

articles, biographies and blogs containing relevant information. All of these were used to study

the cohort’s post-war careers.

Furthermore, secondary literature was searched for information on these women. In

particular Angels of Mercy,15 In the Service of Life16 and First Ladies of Medicine17 include

information on the lives and careers of the SWH doctors. Additionally, relevant historical

publications were used to gather background knowledge on the Scottish Women’s Hospitals

and their role during the First World War, the women’s movement more generally and

pioneering medical women specifically.

13 Published annually since 1845. The Medical Directory, (London: J & A Churchill). 14 Ancestry.co.uk has digitised the Medical Directories 1845-1942 at 5-year intervals, and it comes with a very useful search function. The website also includes the Medical and Dental Students Register 1882-1937 and the Medical Register 1859-1959. 15 Eileen Crofton, Angels of Mercy: A Women's Hospital on the Western Front 1914-1918 (Edinburgh: Birlinn, 2013). 16 Leneman, In the Service of Life. 17 Alexander, First Ladies of Medicine.

7

Chapter 2. Defining the Cohort

The original Scarlet Finders list of personnel contains 1575 entries. It must be noted, however,

that many individuals served at more than one unit and were therefore entered multiple times

on the list. It is estimated that a total of 1381 individuals served in the field with the SWH.18

This number is an estimate, because it is often impossible to judge on the basis of entered

initials whether one is dealing with a double entry or not. Of all these individuals, no less than

31 were male. They worked as chauffeurs (10), mechanics (8), handymen (5), chef (1) and

occupied several assisting positions. There was one male doctor; Dr Charles Hope, whose wife

Dr Laura Hope also served as a doctor with the SWH.

The SWH had a total of 10 administrators, 4 bacteriologists, 127 chauffeurs, 17 clerks, 10

CMOs, 48 cooks, 2 dentists, 8 dispensers, 87 doctors, 15 masseuses (physiotherapists), 18

matrons, 449 nurses, 474 orderlies, 4 radiographers, 7 sanitary inspectors and 9 secretaries,

among others. The total ‘doctors’ (CMOs, doctors, dentists and bacteriologists) was thus 103.

Dr Louisa Martindale and Dr Louisa Aldrich-Blake, not listed but known to have served at

Royaumont during their summer holidays, were added manually. Of these 105 practitioners,

Dr Charles Hope was excluded because of his sex and four women (Dr Elsie Inglis †1917, Dr

Sybil Lewis †1918, Dr Marian Wilson †1917 and Dr Mabel Hardie †1916) were excluded

because they died in the War and the effects on their careers could therefore not be studied.

A Romanian and a French bacteriologist were also excluded.19 After correcting for double

entries,20 there are 92 female doctors in the cohort.

Furthermore, four female medical students who volunteered and served with the SWH during

their studies, and three orderlies who went on to study medicine after the War, were included.

There may have been more orderlies who were inspired by their time with the SWH to take

up a medical career in other units, but it is outside the scope of this study to try and identify

them all. Altogether, the cohort consists of 98 medical women.21

18 The list does not include members of staff that served (voluntarily) in Britain and the Commonwealth, e.g. committee members and fundraisers. 19 They do not appear on the Medical Register and it was impossible to find anything on them in English. 20 Some women served as doctors first and were later promoted to CMO of another unit. 21 Because Ellie Rendel returned after qualifying, she is also listed as a doctor. The total is therefore 98 instead of 99.

8

Chapter 3. Active Service

Over the course of the War, the SWH dispatched fourteen units to different European

destinations. All those units, their staff and volunteers, were coordinated from the

organisation’s headquarters. A number of respectable local women, some of them doctors,

ran the organisation from Edinburgh. They volunteered to work -without remuneration- for

the SWH for the duration of the War, though some others within the SWH held paid positions.

The committee was made up of a combination of committee members from pre-existing

suffrage societies and personal relations of Dr Inglis. They also set up several sub-committees

to take care of personnel, uniforms, equipment, motorcars and press & publicity. An executive

committee, made up of wealthy and prominent members of the London Society for Women’s

Suffrage, was established in London.22 Their rivalry with the Edinburgh committee would go

on to cause some friction in later years. Initially, the organisation was completely funded by

private donations. The SWH greatly benefitted from the NUWSS’s experience in fundraising

and they managed to raise impressive amounts of money. During their fundraising tours across

the United States and the Commonwealth, Mrs Elizabeth Habott and Miss Kathleen Burke

managed to collect thousands of pounds for the SWH.23

The SWH kept the public engaged by publishing articles in The Common Cause, the magazine

of the NUWSS.24 Vera Collum, under the pseudonym ‘Skia,’ reported regularly from

Royaumont, where she had started out as a chauffeur and later worked as a skilled

radiographer (at the time they called X-ray photos ‘skiagrams,’ hence her alias).

Calais

Britain had declared war on Germany after its invasion of Belgium on 4 August 1914. During

the early stages of the War, the Belgian wounded were pouring into Calais. The Belgian consul

in Edinburgh had been among the first of Britain’s allies to accept the offer of a hospital unit

staffed by women. Consequently, the very first unit, led by Dr Alice Hutchison, was sent out to

Calais in November 1914. She was assisted by the Welsh Dr Eppynt-Phillips, a male chauffeur

and ten trained nurses. Dr Hutchison was the experienced one, having served with a women’s

unit in Bulgaria during the First Balkan War in 1912-1913.25 The unit’s wards were quickly filled,

for typhoid had broken out among the Belgian refugees. It was claimed that the unit had the

22 Leneman, In the Service of Life, pp. 4-6. 23 Morrison and Parry, "The Scottish Women's Hospitals for Foreign Service--the Girton and Newnham Unit, 1915-1918," p. 338. 24 Copies of The Common Cause are held by The Mitchell Library, Glasgow. 25 Leneman, In the Service of Life, p. 7.

9

lowest reported mortality of all hospitals in Calais.26 By March 1915, the typhoid epidemic was

virtually over and the unit had become superfluous. The unit was disbanded in April 1915, but

many of its members went on to serve with the SWH in other units.

Royaumont27

Not all SWH units were created equal. The biggest and best-documented unit resided in a

thirteenth century Cistercian abbey in Royaumont, just miles away from the Western Front. It

was entirely unrelated to the British army, instead it operated under the French Croix Rouge

(and thus the French army) and was known as Hôpital Auxiliaire 301 to the French officials.

Once Royaumont had passed all inspections, it was agreed that the French army would pay

two francs per patient per day. It would also supply vehicles, petrol and the beds.28

Royaumont was open consecutively from January 1915 until March 1919, when the last

patients were transferred elsewhere. The work was predominantly surgical because of its

close proximity to the Front, though it also treated local civilians in between the rushes.

Royaumont’s excellent surgical team was led by the renowned Dr Frances Ivens and her

second-in-command Dr Ruth Nicholson. Dr Ivens, an established gynaecological surgeon, had

prepared herself for the War by studying the relevant medical literature.29 In 1939 she recalled

how Sir Robert Jones’ articles on fractures under war conditions were ‘read and reread until

the pages were ragged!’30 Furthermore, her team was made up of Dr Elizabeth Courtauld who

served as anaesthetist, Dr Agnes Savill as radiologist and Dr Estcourt-Oswald and later Dr Elsie

Dalyell as bacteriologists. The hospital treated mainly French soldiers (the ‘Poilu’), but it also

treated French colonial troops and the occasional British, American and Canadian soldier. The

hospital had started out as a 100-bed unit, but its success and increased demands by the

French led them to increase the amount of beds to 600 at its peak. This made them the biggest

British volunteer war hospital in France and it was the second closest to the front line.31 At the

request of the French Military authorities in 1917, the Royaumont Unit opened an ancillary

hospital closer to the Front, in Villers-Cotterêts (Hôpital Auxiliaire d’Armee No 30). There

operations were performed close to the actual fighting (by candlelight if necessary), until the

26 Ibid., p. 8. 27 For an in-depth study of the Royaumont Unit, see Eileen Crofton’s most excellent Angels of Mercy (2013). 28 Crofton, Angles of Mercy, p. 37. 29 M. Weiner, "Frances Ivens (1870-1944): The First Woman Consultant in Liverpool," Bulletin of the Liverpool Medical History Society 26 (2015): p. 65; Crofton, Angles of Mercy, p. 237. 30 Frances Ivens-Knowles, "Treatment of Gas Gangrene," British Medical Journal 2, no. 4118 (1939): p. 1161. 31 Crofton, Angles of Mercy, p. 219.

10

hospital had to be evacuated during the German advance in March 1918.32 At first, both

hospitals functioned as casualty clearing stations, which meant that they played a vital role in

the evacuation, initial treatment and distribution of wounded soldiers who came directly from

the trenches. From mid-1917 this changed, and they were enabled to hold ‘blessés’ (wounded)

for up to one month before transferring them to hospitals further down the line.33

Having a relatively small surgical team, the doctors had to work day and night during the

rushes. In the 24 hours of 7-8 April 1918, a record of 80 operations were performed. Some of

the surgeons had no more than sixteen hours of sleep in eight days, and ‘three hours of

consecutive sleep was an almost unbelievable luxury,’ during the Battle of the Somme in

1916.34 The medical staff was at its biggest in June 1918, when there were sixteen doctors, of

which eleven were surgeons.35 Royaumont and Villers-Cotterêts combined treated a total of

10,681 patients; of which 8,752 were soldiers and the remaining 2,109 were civilians (572 in-

patients and 1,537 out-patients). The death rate among the soldiers was merely 1.82% or 159

deaths in four years! The majority of the military cases were battle-related injuries requiring

surgery, though some more trivial injuries also required surgery and occasionally sick soldiers

were admitted. The civilians were predominantly women and children in need of medical

care.36

The true enemy of any hospital along the Western Front was gas gangrene, an obnoxious

condition caused by trench warfare. Shellfire resulted in pieces of shrapnel boring themselves

into the deeper tissues. Due to the muddy conditions this caused life-threatening infections

with gas-producing anaerobic bacteria such as Clostridium perfringes. In the era before

antibiotics, a manifestation of gas gangrene was often a death sentence. Many a limb was

amputated in an attempt to prevent it from spreading. No effort was spared to find a way to

tackle this disease before it was too late, and the staff of Royaumont was heavily involved in

the search of a cure. Professor Weinberg of the Pasteur Institute in Paris was the leading

expert on gas gangrene at the time. He had been impressed by Royaumont’s laboratory, and

had asked Dr Ivens’ permission to do his trials there.37 Dr Ivens published several articles on

32 Ibid., pp. 159-79. 33 Ibid., p. 219. 34 Ibid., p. 220. 35 Ibid. 36 Ibid., p. 221. 37 Ibid., p. 48.

11

the treatment of gas gangrene,38 just like Dr Dalyell39 and Dr Savill.40 Dr Henry proceeded to

write her MD thesis for the University of Sheffield on the treatment of war wounds.41

Eileen Crofton claimed that Royaumont performed favourably when compared to other

military hospitals and that the French authorities praised them highly for it (after some initial

hesitancy),42 though Weiner disputes that.43 When the hospital was disbanded in 1919, the

members of the unit founded the Royaumont Association, of which Dr Ivens was to be the first

president. Members of the unit had formed long-lasting friendships and they continued to

meet up annually, until the last of them passed away and the association was abolished in

1973.44

The Girton and Newnham Unit45

In May 1915 the SWH opened a second unit in Troyes, France. It came to be known as the

Girton and Newnham Unit, after the two women’s colleges from Cambridge that had raised

the necessary funds. It was France’s first field hospital ‘under canvas,’ and its 200 beds were

divided into a surgical and a medical ward. The former was led by surgeon Dr Louise McIlroy

and the latter by physician Dr Laura Sandeman. There were three assistant surgeons (Dr Keer,

Dr Alexander and Dr Barbara MacGregor), Dr Emslie was the unit’s bacteriologist and the

famous female physicist Miss Edith Stoney served as their radiologist.46 After only a few

months in France, they were asked to join the French Expeditionary Forces (l’Armée d’Orient)

in the Eastern Mediterranean. Subsequently the unit moved to Guevgueli in Serbia where the

cold and the proximity to the Front made it difficult for the unit to settle in. Within a month it

got moved to Salonica, where it would stay for the remainder of the War. There, a large tented

field hospital (Hôpital Auxiliaire Bénévole 30147) was set up at an ill-suited site on the

38 F. Ivens, "A Clinical Study of Anaerobic Wound Infection, with an Analysis of 107 Cases of Gas Gangrene," Proc R Soc Med 10 (1917); "The Preventive and Curative Treatment of Gas Gangrene by Mixed Serums," Br Med J 2, no. 3016 (1918). She was also involved in scientific discussions on the matter in the British Medical Journal. 39 E.J. Dalyell, "A Case of Gas Gangrene Associated with B. Oedematiens," ibid.1, no. 2933 (1917). 40 A. Savill, "X-Ray Appearances in Gas Gangrene," Proc R Soc Med 10 (1917). 41 L.M. Henry, "The Treatment of War Wounds by Serum Therapy" (Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Sheffield, 1920). 42 Crofton, Angles of Mercy, pp. 219-32. 43 Weiner, "The Scottish Women's Hospital at Royaumont, France 1914-1919." 44 Leneman, In the Service of Life, p. 213. 45 The information in this whole paragraph is adapted from Morrison and Parry, "The Scottish Women's Hospitals for Foreign Service--the Girton and Newnham Unit, 1915-1918." 46 Edith Stoney was a physicist and not a doctor, she was therefore excluded from this study. 47 The hospitals in Royaumont and Salonica seem to have had very similar names, perhaps it was purely a coincidence. E. Morrison and C. Parry, "Kate Latarche: Dentist with the Scottish Women's Hospital During the First World War," Dental History Magazine 11, no. 2 (2017): p. 14.

12

overcrowded marshes of Northern Greece, where it treated patients of a whole range of

nationalities. The work was mainly medical, as the unit was quite a distance from the Front

and the area was absolutely plagued by malaria. Statistical accounts from this unit report a

total of 2,733 surgical cases and 3,764 medical cases; of which 1,714 were treated for

malaria.48 Unfortunately, they were lacking an experienced physician since Dr Sandeman had

returned to Britain. The British surgical staff had little experience with malaria and other

infectious diseases that were prevalent in the hot Greek climate (e.g. jaundice, pneumonia,

(para)typhoid, influenza, dengue and sandfly fever). Fortunately the incidence of these

diseases dropped during the cooler months. The location was meant to be only temporary,

though the hospitals was not moved to a better spot nearby until autumn 1917. Dr McIlroy

published an article on her experiences in France, Serbia and Salonica in the Glasgow Medical

Journal in 1917.49 In May 1918 she established an orthopaedic rehabilitation department on

their new hospital site, called the Calcutta Orthopaedic Centre (because the funds were raised

in Calcutta). It was the only one of its kind in the area and 426 patients were treated there

until its closure.50 The Girton and Newnham Unit was also unique in the fact that it employed

its very own (female) dentist, Dr Kate Latarche.51 She served in 1918-1919, and was later

replaced by the young Dr Mary Jane Ripley.

Serbia & Russia

Several other units were erected in Serbia, namely in Kraguievatz, Ostrovo, Mladanovatz and

Valjevo, where the conditions were dire. When the SWH first entered Serbia, it had suffered

great losses fighting off the Austrians and the medical services were inadequate. A typhus

epidemic was raging through the country consequently. When the Central Forces made

another attempt at gaining ground on ‘proud little Serbia’ in October 1915, the Serbian army

was forced to retreat. What followed was a retreat of epic proportions, dubbed ‘the Great

Retreat,’ over the mountains into Albania. Two SWH units joined in this retreat, whilst two

others chose to remain. Dr Inglis, who had been working in Kraguievatz since April 1915,

refused to leave her Serbian patients behind and she and 27 others subsequently became

48 E.S. McLaren, A History of the Scottish Women's Hospitals (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1919), pp. 384-92. 49 A.L. McIlroy, "The Work of a Unit of the Scottish Women’s Hospitals in France, Serbia and Salonica," Glasgow Medical Journal 88 (1917). 50 McLaren, A History of the Scottish Women's Hospitals, pp. 384-92. 51 Morrison and Parry, "Kate Latarche: Dentist with the Scottish Women's Hospital During the First World War."

13

Austrian prisoners of war. Dr Alice Hutchison and some others of her unit also chose to stay

put and were imprisoned in Hungary.52 They were repatriated via Switzerland in 1916.

Yet Dr Inglis had barely reached Britain before she left again, this time with the London Unit

to Russia and Romania. There had been some tension between the London and Edinburgh

committees, and Dr Inglis consequently resigned as leader of the SWH. It was agreed,

however, that she would lead the new unit under the aegis of the London committee.53 The

unit tended mostly to the Serbian division of the Russian army, but again they were forced to

retreat, this time from Medjidia, Romania. They fled via Archangel (Russia) across the seas

swarmed with submarines back to Britain. Dr Elsie Inglis died of cancer on the day of her

return, 26 November 1917. After her death the London Unit was renamed the ‘Elsie Inglis

Unit,’ and was sent out to join the America Unit and the Girton and Newnham Unit in

Salonica.54

Other units

Apart from those hospitals in close proximity to the fighting, two hospitals were opened for

Serbian refugees in Ajaccio (Corsica) and Sallanches (France), far away from the Front.

In December 1915, a hospital on Corsica was set up to treat Serbian refugees who had found

themselves stateless after ‘the Great Retreat.’ The unit had originally been destined for

Salonica, but the area was already overcrowded and they could not be of much help over

there. So when the French government offered to evacuate Serbian refugees to Corsica, the

unit under Dr Blair was more than happy to accompany them and set up a hospital in Ajaccio.

On Christmas day, Dr Alice Blair landed on Corsica with 300 forlorn refugees, and another 500

would soon follow.55 The hospital was housed in a villa overlooking the sea and had about 100

beds.56 Because mostly civilian cases were treated, it also included some obstetrical work and

by January 1917, 26 babies had been born in the Ajaccio hospital.57 The staff consisted partly

of SWH ‘veterans’ who had served in Serbia. Dr Blair left to work for the British War Office,

and was replaced by Dr Eppynt-Phillips in 1916, temporarily by Dr Courtauld (from

Royaumont), followed by Dr Alexandrina MacPhail in 1917, Dr Edna Guest in 1917-1918 and

52 Leneman, In the Service of Life, pp. 39-45. 53 Ibid., p. 62. 54 Ibid., p. 140. 55 Ibid., pp. 46-47. 56 Ibid., p. 51. 57 Ibid., p. 106.

14

finally Dr Honoria Keer until 1919. The hospital was generally considered a great success,

although there had initially been some issues between the administrator and the CMO.58

This stands in stark contrast to the other civilian hospital in Sallanches, which short life-span

was thwarted by many problems. In the winter of 1917-1918, it was set out to be the ‘Elsie

Inglis Memorial Hospital’ for Serbian boys suffering from tuberculosis. It was housed in the

Sallanches Hôtel at the foot of the Mont Blanc, though there was only space for 60 beds. Dr

Alexandrina MacPhail was to be the CMO. Despite its idyllic location, there were major

problems with the water supply.59 These remained unresolved during the following months

and no more than five patients could be washed per day. Moreover, the young Serbs were

unruly and spitted everywhere, which must have been a major problem in a sanatorium.60 At

the request of the American Red Cross, the hospital was enlarged in the autumn of 1918,61 but

it was closed shortly afterwards. It had a bad reputation and the atmosphere had turned

hostile.62

The SWH also set up a number of canteens in Salonica, Creil, Soissons, Crépy-en-Valois, and

Favresse, where volunteers provided some comfort to worn-out soldiers. The ones at Creil and

Crépy were directly requested by the French Red Cross to the London Committee.63 The

canteen in Favresse never really came off the ground.64 The canteen at Soissons was opened

after a personal request from the local commandant to Dr Ivens. She sent out Royaumont’s

store-keeper and three auxiliary nurses to set up a temporary canteen in an old schoolhouse.

Over the course of seven weeks, they offered the Poilu 1,681 hearty meals free of charge, and

hot drinks, cigarettes, newspapers, writing materials and sometimes even a bath.65

The Scottish Women’s Hospitals?

As previously hinted at, the SWH was not entirely staffed by women, though the committee

and the medical staff took pride in managing without the help of men. In the case of

Royaumont, there had initially been two male chauffeurs (because there had been some

uncertainty whether the French would allow the ‘chauffeuses’ to drive), the occasional

58 Ibid., p. 188. 59 Ibid., pp. 141-42. 60 Ibid., p. 163. 61 Ibid., pp. 181-83. 62 Ibid., pp. 194-95. 63 Crofton, Angles of Mercy, p. 129. 64 Leneman, In the Service of Life, pp. 180-81. 65 Crofton, Angles of Mercy, pp. 129-31.

15

mechanic and of course chef Michelet.66 Supposedly, he had been a famous chef in Paris

before he got called up for the army. He had arrived at Royaumont as a patient in June 1915,

but as he was recovering, he had started to lend a hand in the kitchens where he really proved

his worth. Unfortunately, he had to return to his unit in August 1915. By then he had become

indispensable to Royaumont’s kitchen, so Dr Ivens persuaded the French to allow him return

to Royaumont to work as a chef in November 1916. Henceforth Royaumont came to be known

as the best-fed hospital in France.67 During the second half of the War, Royaumont proceeded

to employ ‘infirmiers’ (unfit soldiers) to help with the carrying of stretchers, cleaning and do

other unskilled work.68 Similarly, many other units employed male prisoners of war as

orderlies. Virtually every unit had a male handyman and Miss Edith Stoney had a male assistant

named George Mallet. Mr E.P. Stebbing, an Edinburgh University professor hoping to be of

use, joined the America Unit as its Transport Officer.69 Moreover, there was Dr Charles Hope,

who served in Serbia with his wife;70 Dr Elizabeth Butler’s husband who had been a lecturer at

the University of Lemberg (Lviv), found temporary work at Royaumont as a chauffeur;71 Mr

William Smith was a clerk in Kraguievatz; and Surgeon-Lieutenant Maitland Scott and four

male orderlies offered to help out during a particular busy time in Galatz.72 When talking about

Serbian soldiers who helped with the heavy lifting in Serbia, Dr Emslie (Lady Hutton) wrote ‘we

kept the males in a thoroughly subordinate position; they were labourers, the odd men of the

hospital, and did as they were told!’73

Aftermath

After the armistice, the hospitals were closed one by one, and the majority of the women

returned to their respective homes. A few dedicated individuals stayed on in Serbia to tend to

the Serbian refugees, others went back to the missionary hospitals they had previously worked

at. The following chapters are dedicated to finding out who these women were and what

happened to them on return from the War.

66 Ibid., p. 219. 67 Ibid., pp. 95-98. 68 Ibid., p. 219. 69 As cited by Leneman, In the Service of Life, p. 70. He published on his experiences in Serbia in the Scottish Geographical Magazine. E.P. Stebbing, "The Serbian Front in Macedonia," Scottish Geographical Magazine 33, no. 4 (1917). 70 H. Jones, "Hope, Laura Margaret (1868–1952)," Australian Dictionary of Biography, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/hope-laura-margaret-10541. 71 Crofton, Angles of Mercy, pp. 47-48. 72 Leneman, In the Service of Life, p. 96. 73 As cited by Leneman, In the Service of Life, p. 218: I.E. Hutton, With a Woman’s Unit in Serbia, Salonika and Sebastopol (London: Williams and Norgate, 1928), p. 139.

16

Chapter 4. Origins

Alma Mater

Medical students included, this cohort consists

of 98 women. Who were they and where did

they come from? The nature and date of their

basic qualifications are listed on the Medical

Register. Overall they gained their bachelors in

medicine (MB BS or similar) from fourteen

different universities. The majority graduated

from the London School of Medicine for

Women/Royal Free Hospital (University of

London), followed by the University of

Edinburgh and Queen Margaret College

(University of Glasgow); see Table 1. It must be

noted, however, that the institution one graduated from, is not necessarily where one was

trained. Because of how the British licencing bodies are set up, individuals often studied at

several institutions and could sit an examination with any licencing body. The University of

Durham, for example, did not have a medical school, but as a licencing body it was possible to

sit the Durham examination and become a licenced practitioner. At the time, it was common

practice to take courses and gain clinical experience from multiple (extra-mural) institutions

in Britain or even abroad. The majority of London graduates had studied at the London School

of Medicine for Women, though some later graduates had attended King’s College, St Mary’s

or other London teaching hospitals. In the case of Edinburgh, graduates could have studied at

the Edinburgh School of Medicine for Women (until 1898), Minto House or the Edinburgh

Medical College for Women. The medical school of the University of St Andrews was actually

situated at the Dundee Royal Infirmary and female Glasgow graduates studied at Queen

Margaret College.

Originally graduated from No.

University of London 32

University of Edinburgh 24

University of Glasgow 17

University of Durham 5

University of Aberdeen 4

University of St Andrews 4

Queen’s University Belfast 3

Victoria University Manchester 3

Royal University of Ireland 1

University of Adelaide 1

University of Liverpool 1

University of Melbourne 1

University of Sheffield 1

University of Sydney 1 Table 1. Academic origins of SWH doctors.

17

Nationality

How many of these Scottish Women were actually

Scottish? Nationality was defined as country of

birth, unless a source explicitly stated that an

individual was of an alternative descent.74 Thirty-

nine women were from Scotland or from Scottish

descent, and thirty-nine women were English or

from England. Together these make up roughly 80%

of the cohort. The other 20% is divided between

women of Irish, Welsh and colonial origins (see

Table 2). These findings match Leneman’s estimate: ‘[R]oughly equal numbers of English and

Scottish, with a scattering of Welsh and Irish.’75

Considering that half of the ‘Scottish’ Women were actually English, it is not surprising that

there initially was some debate about the name. Dr Inglis and the NUWSS would have liked to

change it to ‘British Women’s Hospitals,’ but they were overruled by the Edinburgh

committee. The latter claimed that since the organisation had originated in Scotland, it still

had a legitimate claim to the name.76

It is remarkable that even though half of the cohort was Scottish, the lion’s share graduated

from the LSMW. However, the number of Edinburgh and Glasgow graduates together exceeds

that of London. Only two Scottish women graduated from London (Dr MacPhail 1887 and Dr

Stein 1925), 90% of Scots graduated from Scotland.77

74 For the individual sources, see the last column in Appendix 1. 75 Leneman, In the Service of Life, pp. 218-19. 76 Ibid., p. 4. 77 Namely 14 in Glasgow, 14 in Edinburgh, 4 in St Andrews and 3 in Aberdeen; together making up 35 of 39 Scotswomen.

Nationality No.

Scottish 39

English 39

Irish 6

Welsh 4

Australian 3

Canadian 2

New Zealand 2

Ceylon-British 1

Unknown 2 Table 2. Nationalities of SWH doctors.

18

Chapter 5. Marriage

Getting Married

During the ‘struggle’ for medical

education for women, one of the

main concerns raised by the

opposition was marriage. It was

feared that woman doctors, or

highly educated women in general, would choose not to marry and subsequently refrain from

having children;78 for if they were running a medical practice, then how were they going to

combine this with their domestic duties? This lead to all sorts of eugenic counterarguments

about the degeneration of the race and reduced fertility.79 It is therefore relevant to examine

whether these fears were grounded.

Married women were listed as ‘Mrs’, hereby making it possible to define the proportion of

married women at time of service (see Table 3). Eight women were married when they served

in the War. Obituaries, biographies and Ancestry.co.uk were used to estimate how many

women got married overall. Someone was considered ‘unmarried’ if a source explicitly said

so, if the Medical Directory continued to list her as ‘Miss’ until the end of her career or if a

marriage was not mentioned in an obituary or biography (based on the assumption that her

husband would have been mentioned if there was one). If there was limited evidence available

her marital status was considered ‘unknown.’ What follows, is that a third got married and

that about two thirds did not.

Of the 32 women known to have married, at least nine married a doctor (28%). Doctors

marrying doctors is a phenomenon still commonly seen today. It could be argued that fellow

doctors understand, accept and adapt better to having a doctor for wife. They often worked

together too; Dr Agnes Savill (née Blackadder) edited her husband’s clinical textbook for 32

years after his death;80 Dr Grace MacRae (née Summerhayes) worked in a maternity hospital

she had set up in Gold Coast (contemporary Ghana), where her husband was a surgeon;81 Dr

Ruth Verney (née Conway) met her husband in the East London Hospital for Children, where

78 Anna Davin, "Imperialism and Motherhood," History Workshop, no. 5 (1978): p. 14. 79 Alexander, First Ladies of Medicine, p. 36. 80 "Obituary: Agnes Forbes Savill," The Lancet 283, no. 7343 (1964): p. 1170. 81 "Summerhayes Dr Grace Maria Linton," Whitty Family Tree, http://www.whittyfamilytree.co.uk/getperson.php?personID=I9&tree=tree1. [accessed 11 July 2018]

Marital status At time of service At time of death

No. % No. %

Married 8 8 32 33%

Unmarried 90 92 64 65%

Unknown 2 2%

Table 3. Marital status of SWH doctors.

19

she had been his superior;82 Dr Jessie Napier Grant (née Robertson) ran a general practice in

Carlisle with her husband Dr George Osmond Grant for the rest of her life;83 Dr Laura Hope

(née Fowler) and her husband Dr Charles Hope both worked as missionaries in India most of

their professional lives and served with the SWH in Serbia together;84 and Dr Gladys Miall-

Smith and her husband Dr John Fry became Welwyn Garden City’s first doctors in 1922.85 The

remaining ten whose husband’s occupation is known, married army officers (2), non-medical

missionaries (2), a farmer, a university lecturer, a clergymen, a clerk, a barrister and a teacher.

This study found a marriage rate of 33%, but it is difficult to compare these results to those of

similar studies. Kelly found that at least 18% of her cohort of early Irish medical women got

married86 and 40% of McMillan’s cohort married.87 Wendy Alexander searched the records

thoroughly and found that 53.2% of her entire sample of Glasgow graduates married. She

determined that this number was only 10-15% lower than the national average, which did not

distinguish between social classes. She then concluded that the marriage rate of female

doctors could not have been far below the average for middle-class women, of which a smaller

proportion married and usually at a later age.88

Considering the husbands’ occupations, Alexander found that 47% married a fellow doctor,

and another 31% married men of the remaining ‘old professions’ (teachers/lecturers,

ministers, missionaries, gentlemen and lawyers), thus showing a remarkable trend of upwards

mobility. She interpreted this as an expression of the desire to marry men whom they regarded

to be of equal social and intellectual standing.89

This study found that a greater proportion of SWH doctors got married, when compared to

Kelly’s Irish women, but less than McMillan’s pathologists and Alexander’s Glasgow graduates.

It is hard to draw a definite conclusion based on these different studies, but the general trend

82 I. de Burgh Daly and L.M. Pickford, "Ernest Basil Verney, 1894-1967," Biogr Mem Fellows R Soc 16 (1970): p. 525. 83 S. Grant, "The Life Story of Dr. Ronald Grant M.A. M.D. F.R.C.G.P.," http://www.simongrant.org/father/lifestory.html. [Accessed 18 June 2018] 84 Jones, "Hope, Laura Margaret (1868–1952)". 85 L. London, "Dr Gladys Miall Smith (1888 - 1991) – British Doctor," Inspirational Women Of World War One, http://inspirationalwomenofww1.blogspot.com/2016/06/dr-gladys-miall-smith-1888-1991-british.html. [Accessed 5 August 2018] 86 Kelly, Irish Women in Medicine, p. 145. 87 McMillan, "Women in Pathology at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary," p. 39. 88 She studied 39 graduates from 1898-1900 and 23 graduates from 1908-1910, of which 9 coincidentally served with the SWH. Alexander, First Ladies of Medicine, pp. 36-39. 89 Ibid., pp. 38-39.

20

seems to be that medical women indeed married less frequent than the national average, but

not as little as was feared by contemporaries. The large proportion of early medical women

marrying fellow doctors (and other members of the old professions) is striking, and this refutes

the fear that educated men would not desire to marry women doctors. Eugenic arguments

against medical women were therefore not grounded.

The Marriage Bar90

Opponents of female doctors also feared that public investment in a lengthy and expensive

medical education would go to waste once a woman doctor got married. It is therefore

relevant to identify the proportion of women that ceased practice upon marriage. When doing

so, it becomes apparent that these fears were unfounded. Of the 32 women known to have

married, only one certainly ceased practice (Dr Laird). Five additional individuals are listed in

the Medical Directories with just an address, they may or may not have ceased practice (Dr

Ferguson, Dr Hancock, Dr Henry, Dr Beatrice McGregor and Dr Sharp). Moreover, Dr Porter

continued to work after her marriage, though she ceased practice after the birth of her son

three years later.91 Another two women resigned upon marriage, but continued to work

elsewhere (Dr Miall-Smith92 and Dr Emslie93).

In 1921, the case of Dr Miall-Smith caused considerable controversy in the press, with

supportive letters written by the Council of the British Medical Association, the Society of

Medical Officers of Health, the Federation of Medical Women, the National Association of

Local Government Officers, the London Society for Women’s Service, and superintendents of

local welfare centres, but to no avail. Eventually the decision to ask Dr Miall-Smith to resign

was upheld.94 Because of her case and many others, the Medical Women’s Federation set up

the Standing Committee for the Defence of Married Medical Women in the following year.

They sent a deputation to the Prime Minister to ask for an amendment of The Sex

90 The names listed in this paragraph are all maiden names. 91 M. Cross, "A Heroine of Serbia: Dr Agnes Porter & Govan," Govan Fair 2015. 92 London, "Dr Gladys Miall Smith (1888 - 1991) – British Doctor". 93 "Obituary: Isabel Emslie Hutton," The Lancet 275, no. 7117 (1960): p. 231. 94 For a good summary of the appeal see: "Public Health Services: The Marriage Bar," The Lancet 198, no. 5118 (1921).

21

Disqualification (Removal) Act,95 which had been released in 1919.96 It had been intended to

open up the professions to women and to remove the marriage bar. Though it succeeded in

changing the law, it failed to change society’s attitude towards married women for it

continued to be common practice for a woman to be dismissed upon marriage.97 Dr Ivens and

Dr Emslie published appeals against the marriage bar in The Lancet and The Times.98

Unfortunately, the situation remained unchanged until well after the Second World War.

To recapitulate, between one and six out of 32 married women ceased practice (3%-19%),

which is only a minority of the married medical women. The fears of opponents of female

medical education were therefore insufficiently warranted. It was society pressing for women

to cease work after marriage, rather than the medical women themselves, that put the

investment of medical education in jeopardy.

95 An Act for the Removal of disqualification on grounds of sex: ‘A person shall not be disqualified by sex or marriage from the exercise of any public function, or from being appointed to or holding any civil or judicial office or post, or from entering or assuming or carrying on any civil profession or vocation, or for admission to any incorporated society (whether incorporated by Royal Charter or otherwise), …’ Accessible at http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Geo5/9-10/71/section/1. [Accessed 21 August 2018] 96 "Supplement 961: Medical Women's Federation," British Medical Journal 2, no. 3226 (1922): p. 165; Weiner, "The Scottish Women's Hospital at Royaumont, France 1914-1919," p. 333. 97 C.J. Coleman, "Perspectives on the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act, 1919," Women in the Law: Inspired and Inspirations, https://womenandthelegalprofession.wordpress.com/2015/08/24/historians-perspectives-the-sex-disqualification-removal-act-1919/. [Accessed 20 August 2018] 98 Violet Kelynack et al., "The Employment of Married Women. To the Editor of the Lancet," The Lancet 209, no. 5416 (1927): pp. 1322-23; Isabel Emslie-Hutton, "Women Medical Students," The Times, 26 March 1928, p. 12.

22

Chapter 6. Additional qualifications

At Time of Service

Table 4 shows all additional99 qualifications in the cohort, divided into three categories: pre-

war, post-war and overall qualifications. At time of service, the MD degree was by far the most

popular. Out of the 98 women doctors in this cohort, 21 had already graduated MD when they

joined the war effort. This was probably because it was also the most accessible postgraduate

degree; most Royal Colleges did not award memberships and fellowships to women until later

in the twentieth century.100 A postgraduate qualification was, and still is, a prerequisite for the

more prestigious hospital positions. Dr A.L. McIlroy was the only one to be awarded the

esteemed DSc from the University of Glasgow in 1910. The equally prestigious MS was taken

by Dr Louisa Aldrich-Blake in 1895 and Dr Frances Ivens in 1903. The ChM was taken by the

Australian Dr Elsie Dalyell, as part of the old-fashioned BM ChM degree (University of Sydney

1909 & 1910). Moreover, ten women had taken the DPH, five the DTM(&H), three the LM and

two the BHy.

Non-medical degrees such as the BSc, Natural Science Tripos and the MA were relatively

common. These were usually taken before embarking on medical studies because it was

initially more acceptable for middle-class girls to study arts than to study medicine. To

illustrate, Queen Margaret College Glasgow (QMC), the first institution for higher education

for women in Scotland, was opened in 1884 and originally only offered arts classes. It did not

open its medical school until 1890.101 Its first medical graduate (Dr Marion Gilchrist 1894) had

been an arts student at the QMC before taking on medical studies.102 The women in this cohort

with non-medical degrees probably had similar experiences.

After the War

Table 4 makes it possible to compare acquired qualifications before and after the War. Overall,

64% of women held a total of nineteen different additional qualifications. In addition to the

21 women who had already graduated MD at time of service, two women wrote their MD

99 ‘Additional’ meaning any formal qualification apart from the MB BS (or similar). 100 E.g. the first female memberships: MRCP Lond 1909, MRCS Eng 1910 and MRCPE 1925. The first female fellowships: FRCSI 1893, FRCS Eng 1911, FRCPI 1924, FRCPE 1929 and FRCP Lond 1934. 101 "Queen Margaret College," University of Glasgow Story, https://www.universitystory.gla.ac.uk/site/?id=10; "Women in the University," University of Glasgow Story, https://www.universitystory.gla.ac.uk/women-background/. [Accessed 6 August 2018] 102 Michael S. Moss, "Gilchrist, Marion," Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-47538?rskey=YgrPfB&result=1.

23

theses on their war-time experiences. On return from the Western Front, Dr Lydia Henry wrote

hers on the treatment of gas gangrene.103 Similarly, Dr Helen Lillie graduated MD with her

thesis on her experience with malaria in the Balkans during the War.104 In the following years,

another ten women qualified MD. The last one was Dr Helen McDougall (Mrs Hendrie), who

obtained the MD degree in 1937 from the University of Edinburgh, her alma mater. Overall,

33 out of 98 women (34%) gained their MD degrees. The majority continued postgraduate

studies at the university from which they had originally graduated.

Additionally, nineteen women qualified DPH, eight DTM(&H) and six LM. This is illustrative for

what early medical women specialised in; public health, tropical medicine and obstetrics.

Diplomas in other specialisms such as surgery, radiology, ophthalmology and laryngology &

otology were far less common.

The prestigious qualifications DSc, MS/ChM and LL.D are usually honorary and awarded

towards the end of a successful career. This explains their marked increase after the War. Dr

McIlroy graduated DSc (Glasgow) in 1910, but was awarded an honorary DSc in 1931 (Belfast)

and graduated DSc 1934 (London). Lydia Henry received an honorary DSc in 1978 from the

University of Sheffield, where she had been the first female medical graduate in 1916. Dr

Nicholson took the MS degree from the University of Liverpool in 1923, whereas Dr Ivens was

awarded with an honorary ChM by the University of Liverpool in 1926. Dr McIlroy was

presented with the honorary LL.D from the University of Glasgow in 1935 and Dr Fairlie was

honoured with the LL.D from the University of St Andrews in 1957, shortly after her

retirement.

The SWH doctors combined held four MS/ChM degrees (excluding Dalyell’s ChM), four DSc

degrees and two LL.D degrees, which is ten in total. This impressive number of prestigious or

honorary degrees was held by a select group of only six women, of which five were pre-

eminent gynaecologists and four of them became FRCOG (see Fellowships). Of the women

from this cohort who had the most successful post-war careers, almost every single one did

so within the sphere of gynaecology and obstetrics.

103 Henry, "The Treatment of War Wounds by Serum Therapy." 104 H. Lillie, "Malaria: With Special Reference to Cases Treated in Macedonia" (Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Aberdeen, 1920).

24

When these findings are compared to the available evidence, it becomes apparent that the

SWH doctors were generally better qualified. Wendy Alexander found that fourteen out of her

sample of 62 graduated MD (23%).105 In McMillan’s sample two out of twenty (10%) women

took the MD, and overall five out of twenty (25%) held a postgraduate qualification. Kelly did

not specify the frequency of MD degrees in her Irish cohort, though she concluded that ‘At

least 21 per cent of the women graduates went on to obtain postgraduate qualifications such

as diplomas in public health and MD degrees.’106

As previously stated, in this study 64% of women obtained a total of nineteen different

additional qualifications and 34% of the total qualified MD. This is much higher than the

frequency in all three other samples, thus the academic qualifications of the SWH doctors

were superior and they were also more varied. However, most of the more prestigious

qualifications were held by a select group of exceptional doctors. The academic qualifications

of the rank-and-file SWH doctor was only slightly superior to those of the other cohorts.

105 Alexander, First Ladies of Medicine, p. 32. 106 Kelly, Irish Women in Medicine, p. 114.

Additional qualifications At time of service

After the War

Total

Doctor of Medicine (MD) 21 12 33

Diploma of Public Health (DPH) 10 9 19

Master of Arts (MA) 9 2 11

Diploma in Tropical Medicine (and Hygiene) (DTM or DTM&H) 3 5 8

Licentiate in Midwifery (LM) 5 1 6

Bachelor of Science (BSc) 5 0 5

Master of Surgery (MS or ChM; sometimes honorary) 3* 2 5

MRCP London 0 4 4

Doctor of Science (DSc; sometimes honorary) 1 3 4

Natural Science Tripos (Cambridge) 2 0 2

Bachelor in Hygiene (BHy) 2 0 2

Doctor of Laws (LL.D; honorary degree) 0 2 2

MCP&S Ontario 1 0 1

MRCP Ireland 1 0 1

Licentiate of the Medical Council of Canada (LMCC) 0 1 1

Diploma of Medical Radiology and Electrology (DMRE) 0 1 1

Diploma of Ophthalmic Medicine and Surgery (DOMS) 0 1 1

Diploma of Laryngology and Otology (DLO) 0 1 1

Diploma in Surgery (University of Vienna) 0 1 1

*Dr Elsie Dalyell took the ChM degree in 1910 (University of Sydney) as part of the old-fashioned MB ChM degree.

Table 4. Additional qualifications of SWH doctors at time of service, after the War and in total.

25

Chapter 7. Honours

In an attempt to spark

academic interest, the Dr Elsie

Inglis- Scottish Women’s

Hospitals Trust awards an

annual essay prize to

undergraduate students. In

this year’s competition, one is

required to discuss how

‘thankfulness was expressed’

to the staff of the SWH, ‘who

received neither British Government recognition nor retrospective honours.’107 It is true that

(voluntary) female medical staff did not have the pay and rank of their male counterparts,108

but it is not true that the SWH women went entirely undecorated. They received medals from

the Belgian, British, French, Russian and Serbian governments (see Table 5). An example of

these can be found in Figure 1, which depicts the four medals that were awarded to Dr Agnes

Savill.109

All individuals who served with the SWH under the French Red Cross received the British

Victory & War Medals in 1921.110 The aforementioned statement about the lack of

acknowledgement by the British government is therefore incorrect (even though there was

definitely room for improvement). Out of this sample of 98 women, 82 (84%) were decorated

by the British government for their war-time services. See the pair of medals on the left, as

shown in Figure 1.

Thirty members of the Royaumont Unit were awarded the French Medaille d’Honneur des

Épidémies for general hospital work and another 23 members received the French Croix de

107 Cited from the Dr Elsie Inglis Trust banner, released 19 October 2018. 108 Leah Leneman, "Medical Women in the First World War--Ranking Nowhere," BMJ 307, no. 6919 (1993). 109 "Doctor Agnes Forbes Blackadder-Savill," A tribute to some women and men who served in armed conflicts, https://camc.wordpress.com/2013/01/28/doctor-agnes-forbes-blackadder-savill/. [Accessed 9 August 2018] 110 "Roll of Individuals Entitled to the Victory Medal and British War Medal Granted under Army Orders: S.W.H.," (London: British Committee French Red Cross, 1921). Accessible online via Ancestry.co.uk.

Figure 1. Medals awarded to Dr Agnes Savill. From left to right: British War & Victory Medals, French Medaille d’Honneur des Épidémies (first class) and the SWH service medal (bronze with tartan ribbon).

26

Guerre.111 Of these, at least six of the former and seven of the latter were granted to the

doctors. Moreover, most doctors who served with one of the Serbian Units were awarded the

Order of St Sava (21), which was subdivided into several classes according to rank and time of

service. A handful of doctors received military medals for their services to Belgium (in Calais)

and Russia (London Unit). The SWH also struck its own medal, which was awarded to all

women who served with the SWH for two years or more (not listed in Table 5). 112

Thirteen women were promoted to the Order of the British Empire, though only three of these

promotions were directly related to their service during the First World War. Dr Dalyell (1919),

Dr Hollway (1919) and Dr McIlroy (1920) were awarded with the OBE shortly after the War.

The three of them served with the RAMC in the last phase of the War. Dr Dalyell113 and Dr

Hollway114 served as civil surgeons attached to the RAMC on Malta and in Salonica. Dr McIlroy

left the Girton and Newnham Unit in September 1919 and worked as a surgeon attached to

the RAMC in Constantinople.115

Furthermore, Dr Aldrich-Blake was awarded with the DBE on the London School of Medicine

for Women’s fiftieth anniversary in 1925.116 Dr McIlroy was promoted to the rank of DBE in

1929 for her contributions to medicine. Three women were awarded the CBE: Dr Ivens

received it in 1929, Dr Martindale in 1931 and Dr Emslie (Lady Hutton) in 1948. Though they

were awarded for achievements not directly related to the War, it is an indication for the

extent of the success of their careers.

Additionally, some SWH doctors received distinctions for outstanding work in other fields.

Three doctors received the Kaisar-i-Hind medal for their excellent missionary work in India. Dr

Estcourt-Oswald was granted the Victorian Medal of Honour in 1960 for her efforts against

animal cruelty.117

111 McLaren, A History of the Scottish Women's Hospitals, p. 56. 112 Leneman, In the Service of Life, p. 214. 113 A.M. Mitchell, "Dalyell, Elsie Jean (1881–1948)," Australian Dictionary of Biography, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/dalyell-elsie-jean-5875. 114 "Lady Doctors of the Malta Garrison: Hollway Edith Blake," Malta RAMC, https://www.maltaramc.com/ladydoc/h/hollwayeb.html. [Accessed 10 August 2018] 115 She wrote a book about her experiences in Constantinople: A.L. McIlroy, From a Balcony on the Bosphorus (London: Country Life, 1924). 116 M.A. Elston, "Blake, Dame Louisa Brandreth Aldrich-," Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, http://www.oxforddnb.com/abstract/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-30367?rskey=E0AoII&result=1. 117 "Obituary Notices: Agnes Estcourt-Oswald," British Medical Journal 1, no. 5438 (1965): p. 869.

27

This study has identified nine individuals who were not awarded any kind of decoration.

Interestingly, five of them tended to civilians in Ajaccio or Sallanches, and the other four only

served for a short period of time. Tending to refugees was obviously not considered to be as

heroic as serving near the Front.

In conclusion, the doctors from the Scottish Women’s Hospitals did not leave the War entirely

empty-handed. The majority of the doctors received the British War & Victory Medals and/or

the Order of St Sava, with a scattering of decorations from alternative governments and some

very impressive honours. The Empire promoted three women doctors from this cohort to the

rank of OBE directly after the War, though these were primarily related to their service with

the RAMC. Several women received honours for their contributions to medicine or their

humanitarian work in later life.

Medals and distinctions No.

Military decorations 134

Belgian Order of the Palm Leaf 1

British Victory and War Medals 82

French Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur 2

French Croix de Guerre (avec Palme) 7 (2)

French Medaille d’Honneur des Épidémies (all classes) 6

Russian Medal of St Anna 2

Russian Red Cross Medal 1

Serbian Order of St Sava (all classes) 21

Serbian Order of the White Eagle118 1

Serbian Red Cross Medal 7

Serbian Samaritan Cross 1

Serbian War Medal 1

Serbian War Medical Service Medal 2

Order of the British Empire 13

Officer (OBE) 8

Dame (DBE) 2

Commander (CBE) 3

Other decorations 5

Kaisar-i-Hind Medal (all classes) 3

Order of St John of Jerusalem 1

Victorian Medal of Honour 1 Table 5. Medals and distinctions awarded to SWH doctors.

118 Although not included in this study, Dr Elsie Inglis was the first woman to be decorated with the Serbian Order of the White Eagle (first class) in 1916, the highest honour the Serbian government could bestow. She was also awarded the Serbian Order of St Sava (third class), the British Victory and War medals and the SWH service medal.

28

Chapter 8. Feminists

Millicent Fawcett, the president of the NUWSS, originally wanted to change the name of the

Scottish Women’s Hospitals to something containing the word ‘suffrage,’ but this was vetoed

by Dr Inglis who argued that this would scare off some potential supporters.119 The figureheads

of the SWH (e.g. Dr Inglis, Dr Ivens, Dr Aldrich-Blake and Dr Martindale) were deeply rooted in

the British suffragist movement. Dr Katherine MacPhail initially feared that all of the others

would be ardent suffragists: ‘We knew we were being sent out under the auspices of the

Suffrage Societies, and each was afraid that the other was a strong supporter, but we were

much relieved to find that almost none of us was what might be called strong, and that Serbia

was the common bond, not suffrage.’120 At the time, orderly (later Dr) Grace Summerhayes

was embarrassed to have a suffragette for aunt who chained herself to railings (though later

she thought she should have been proud!).121 Just how much of a feminist was the rank-and-

file ‘Scottish’ doctor?

Many medical women during the first half of the twentieth century were member of feminist

organisations. Female doctors often listed memberships of the Medical Women’s Federation

and its precursor, the Association for Registered Medical Women, in the Medical Directory.

The Medical Women’s Federation was established in 1917 and is the biggest body of female

doctors in the UK today.122 Dr Louisa Aldrich-Blake was its founding treasurer in 1917 and over

the years, two SWH doctors have been its president; Dr Frances Ivens in 1924-1926 and Dr

Louisa Martindale in 1930-1932. Dr Ivens had been chairman of the Liverpool branch of the

Conservative and Unionist Women's Suffrage Society, was first president of the Liverpool

Association of Qualified Medical Women and founded the North of England Medical Women’s

Society. She was at the forefront of the fight for medical women.123

She was not the only SWH doctor who was actively taking part in the women’s movement. Dr

Agnes Bennett was the first president of the Wellington branch of the International Federation

of University Women;124 Dr Benson was the founding president of the Association of Medical

Women in India;125 Dr Cooper was a founding member of the Queensland Medical Women’s

119 Leneman, In the Service of Life, p. 4. 120 Ibid., p. 6. 121 Crofton, Angles of Mercy, p. 276. 122 "Medical Women's Federation," http://www.medicalwomensfederation.org.uk/. [Accessed 6 August 2018] 123 Leneman, In the Service of Life, p. 209. 124 "Obituary: Agnes Bennett, O.B.E., M.D., B.Sc," British Medical Journal 1, no. 5218 (1961): p. 59. 125 Leneman, In the Service of Life, p. 143.

29

Society in 1929;126 Dr Corbett was a passionate rock climber and was a founder-member of

the Pinnacle Club for female climbers in 1921;127 Dr De Garis was co-founder of the Victorian

Women’s Medical Students’ Society and remained a vocal defender of women’s rights all her

life;128 Dr Gordon had been a supporter of the WSPU before the War and as a prison inspector

sympathised deeply with force-fed suffragettes;129 Dr Edna Guest was president of the

Canadian Medical Women’s Federation in 1940-1941;130 Dr Savill had published on the force-

feeding of suffragettes in the British Medical Journal131 and Dr Rendel became the private

doctor of the famous feminist writer Virginia Woolf,132 to name just a few examples. In other

words, many of the remarkable women of this cohort were opinionated feminists and active

members, founders and presidents of (medical) women’s organisations.

On the whole, 36 out of 98 women were known members of feminist organisations (37%),

most notably the Medical Women’s Federation (24), the Association for Registered Medical

Women (7) and the WSPU (2). The remaining doctors were members of local women’s

organisations. The fact that only two SWH doctors had been a member of the WSPU illustrates

the predominance of suffragism (rather than suffragette-ism) among SWH personnel. It is very

likely that this is an underestimate of the actual proportion of membership of feminist

organisations, for entering membership on the Medical Directory was entirely voluntary.

Moreover, obituaries and biographies of these first and second generation women doctors are

filled with stories of how they were the first female to do or achieve something somewhere;

Dr McIlroy was the first woman to graduate MD from the University of Glasgow,133 Dr Cooper

126 T. Cramond, "Lilian Violet Cooper, M.D., F.R.A.C.S., Foundation Fellow, Royal Australasian College of Surgeons," Aust N Z J Surg 63, no. 2 (1993): p. 138. 127 P.D. Mohr, "Dr Catherine Louisa Corbett M.B. Ch.B D.P.H. (1877-1960), Diary in Serbia. Her Work with the Scottish Women's Hospitals in Serbia and Russia, 1915-1917," J Med Biogr (2018): p. 8. 128 R. Lee, "De Garis, Mary Clementina," The Encyclopedia of Women & Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia, http://www.womenaustralia.info/leaders/biogs/WLE0014b.htm. [Accessed 7 August 2018] 129 Deborah Cheney, "Dr Mary Louisa Gordon (1861–1941): A Feminist Approach in Prison," Feminist Legal Studies 18, no. 2 (2010). 130 S. Bhimji and R. Sheinin, "Dr. Edna Mary Guest: She Promoted Women's Issues before It Was Fashionable," CMAJ 141, no. 10 (1989): p. 1094. 131 A. Savill, C. M. Moullin, and V. Horsley, "Preliminary Report on the Forcible Feeding of Suffrage Prisoners," Br Med J 2, no. 2696 (1912). 132 Leneman, In the Service of Life, p. 211. 133 "First World War Roll of Honour: Surgeon Anne Louise McIlroy," University of Glasgow, https://www.universitystory.gla.ac.uk/ww1-biography/?id=4481

30

became the first female consultant in Australia,134 Dr Henry was the first female medical

graduate from the University of Sheffield, Dr Corbett from the University of Manchester and

Dr Eppynt-Phillips from the University of Cardiff, to mention but a few. It is safe to assume that

any pioneering medical woman was a feminist of some sort, even if she was not an active

member of a feminist society or a militant suffragette.

134 "Lilian Cooper (1861-1947)," Queensland Government, https://www.qld.gov.au/about/about-queensland/history/women/assets/lilian-cooper-biography.pdf. [Accessed 7 August 2018]

31

Chapter 9. Post-war Careers

In order to find out how the War has affected these women’s careers, it is vital to compare

the posts they held before and after the War. The following chapter will take a closer look at

the positions these women held, predominantly by looking up their entries in the Medical

Directories of 1900-1950 at regular intervals. The complete results of this undertaking are

attached as Appendix 1. Findings from the Medical Directories will not be individually

referenced in this section; instead they are organised in the last column of Appendix 1. The

first part of this chapter will focus on general career trends, whereas the subsequent parts will

zoom in on particular achievements within the medical profession; i.e. fellowships,

consultancy positions and professorships. The last part is dedicated to the Second World War.

Career Trends

When taking a quick look at the results in Appendix 1, it immediately becomes apparent that

the situation was very complex. Categorising pre- and post-war positions has proven next to

impossible, since most women seemed to do a little bit of everything. It was common for

women doctors in the first half of the twentieth century to hold several simultaneous positions

to make ends meet, especially during the early stages of their careers. A frequently occurring

combination of occupations was ‘something’ with women and children and public health.

Newly qualified doctors accepted short-term, underpaid positions as assistants, residents and

house physician/surgeons to gain experience and make a name for themselves, before

obtaining a more permanent position. Women who failed to find work in the more prestigious

hospitals often ended up in sectors that were unpopular among their male colleagues; e.g. in

asylums, sanatoria, poorhouses and public health. A proportion of women tried their luck

abroad by joining a medical mission or securing a colonial appointment.

The career categories from before and after the War are listed in Table 6. Due to the arbitrary

categorisation of the data, not too much emphasis must be laid on the results shown in this

table. It can only be used to form a general picture of what these women specialised in. So

what is this general picture? First of all, the predominance of missionary work/tropical

medicine (the distinction is hard to make), public health and the catch-all category ‘women &

children’ is striking, both before and after the War, whilst the frequencies of the other typical

specialisms (i.e. radiology, dermatology, psychiatry, laryngology etc.) remain of the same

order of magnitude. The tenfold decline of ‘various hospital positions’ is illustrative for how

recently qualified doctors rotated through the residency system, before settling into a long-

32

term position. Lastly, the proportion of women involved in laboratory research halved. Three

of them switched to public health; an upcoming specialism around the turn of the century

wherein some women found their niche as ‘lady health visitor.’135 In the post-war category,

public health has become the single biggest professional sector (38%), hereby surpassing even

the unspecific women & children’s category. The overlap between these two is significant,

after the War thirteen women combine a position in public health with one in women &

children’s medicine.

Three doctors certainly ceased practice shortly after the War; Dr Berry, due to her

deteriorating mental health,136 Dr Hodson who retired in 1922, and Dr Laird who ceased

practice upon marriage (see Chapter 5).

During this study, another phenomenon came to light: many of these women held the same

appointment for the duration of their careers, without ever getting promoted. Consider for

example Dr Blake, who was Assistant School & Child Welfare MO for about twenty years, or

Dr Brook who was Assistant MO to Lancashire County from 1921 until her retirement. The

most striking example is the lauded Dr Elsie Dalyell, who as a promising young pathologist had

been working for the Lister Institute in Austria. She was unable to find a similarly satisfactory

job in Australia and ended up as Assistant Microbiologist to the Ministry of Public Health from

1924-1946.137 This trend was not limited to the public health sector; Dr Rendel remained

Clinical Assistant to the same London hospitals from 1923 until 1937, and Dr Campbell was

Assistant Physician to the Edinburgh Women’s & Children’s Hospital and The Hospice from the

War until her retirement in the early 1930s. See Appendix 1 for more examples.

When flicking through entries in the Medical Directory, one notices the sense of pride these

women felt for their war-time experiences. Many individuals continued to list their service

with the SWH until after their retirement, even if it was only for a very short period of time or

if she held a very junior position. Dr Logan, who was dismissed by Dr Ivens, even continued to

list her position at Royaumont until the 1940s. By then she was an accomplished Harley Street

gynaecologist!

135 Celia Davies, "The Health Visitor as Mother's Friend: A Woman's Place in Public Health, 1900–14," Social History of Medicine 1, no. 1 (1988). 136 Crofton, Angles of Mercy, pp. 251-54. 137 Ibid., pp. 256-59.

33

War-time service seems to have affected some of these doctors on a very personal level. The

SWH provided young women doctors with role models to look up to.138 Both Dr Rendel and

Dr Nicholson found in the CMO of their respective units a mentor (Dr Ivens and Dr Chesney

respectively). Dr Nicholson followed in Dr Ivens’ footsteps and had a very successful career in

gynaecological surgery in Liverpool.

Furthermore, war-time experience affected some individuals’ later career choices. As

previously mentioned, Dr Nicholson was encouraged by her mentor to pursue a career in

surgery. Dr Martland had originally wanted to pursue a career in surgery too, but after the

strenuous work at Royaumont she deemed herself physically unfit for it, and decided to

specialise in pathology instead. She went on to become a consultant pathologist to the

Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital from 1928-1945.139 Gladys Buckley worked as an assistant

radiographer at Royaumont, and subsequently enjoyed a very successful career in radiology.

Before the War (n=71)*

After the War (n=98)

Women & Children (including Paediatrics, Obstetrics & Gynaecology)**

30 42% 31 32%

Public Health 17 24% 37 38%

Missionary/Tropical Medicine 12 17% 21 21.4%

Unknown/General Practice (GP)*** 11 15% 17 17%

Various hospital positions 7 9.9% 1 1.0%

Laboratory research (Pathology, Physiology, Bacteriology) 6 8.4% 4 4.1%

Psychiatry 4 5.6% 6 6.1%

Anaesthesiology 3 4.2% 6 6.1%

Radiology 1 1.4% 2 2.0%

Dermatology 1 1.4% 1 1.0%

Ophthalmology 2 2.8% 1 1.0%

Laryngology/Otology 1 1.4% 2 2.0%

Dentistry 1 1.4% 2 2.0%

Company doctor 0 0.0% 3 3.1%

Prison inspector 1 1.4% 1 1.0%

Ceased practice 4 4.1%

*Excluding the 27 women who graduated in or after 1914. **These categories have been combined because of the inescapable overlap. ***The proportion of GPs is particularly difficult to define, since general practice is not listed in the Medical Directory. NB: Individuals who held concurrent positions in more than one sector appear more than once. Table 6. SWH doctors’ careers before and after the War.

138 Crofton argues this in another posthumously published book. Eileen Crofton and Patricia Raemaekers, A Painful Inch to Gain: Personal Experiences of Early Women Medical Students in Britain (Peterborough: Fast-print Publishing, 2014), pp. 25-44. 139 "Obituary: E. Marjorie Martland, M.B., B.S," British Medical Journal 1, no. 5281 (1962): pp. 885-86; Crofton, Angles of Mercy, p. 263.

34

Fellowships

Table 7 lists the number of women that was awarded fellowship status at any point in life. Out

of these 98 women, no less than six became Fellows of the Royal College of Obstetricians and

Gynaecologists (FRCOG). Dr Ivens,140 Dr Nicholson,141 Dr Martindale142 and Dr Fairlie143 were

all founding members. Dr McIlroy144 was even a foundation Fellow.145 Dr Joan Kennedy Rose

was not a founding member, but was elected FRCOG in 1941.146

Fifteen women became Fellows of the Royal Society of Medicine and another six were elected

Fellows of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Five women were elected fellows of the

dominant British and Irish Royal Colleges of Physicians and/or Surgeons (3 FRCSE, 1 FRCP Lond,

140 "Pioneers: Frances Ivens (1870-1944) F.R.C.O.G. 1929," Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists Heritage Blog, https://rcogheritage.wordpress.com/2017/08/24/pioneers-frances-ivens-1870-1944-frcog-1929/. 141 "Pioneers: Ruth Nicholson, F.R.C.O.G. 1931," Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists Heritage Blog, https://rcogheritage.wordpress.com/2017/07/21/pioneers-ruth-nicholson-frcog-1931/. 142 "Pioneers: Louisa Martindale (1873-1966) F.R.C.O.G. 1933," Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists Heritage Blog, https://rcogheritage.wordpress.com/2017/06/08/pioneers-louisa-martindale-1873-1966-frcog-1933/ 143 "Pioneers: Margaret Fairlie, F.R.C.O.G. (1891-1963)," Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists Heritage Blog, https://rcogheritage.wordpress.com/2017/03/08/pioneers-margaret-fairlie/. 144 "Pioneers: Louise McIlroy, F.R.C.O.G. 1929," Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists Heritage Blog, https://rcogheritage.wordpress.com/2017/12/13/pioneers-louise-mcilroy-frcog-1929/. 145 "R.C.O.G. And the Scottish Women's Hospitals, 1914-18," Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, https://www.rcog.org.uk/en/guidelines-research-services/library-services/archives-and-heritage/archives/rcog-and-the-scottish-womens-hospitals-1914-18/. 146 "Obituary Notices: Joan K. Rose," British Medical Journal 3, no. 5974 (1975).

Fellowships No.

Royal Society of Medicine 15

Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (FRCOG) 6

Society for Medical Officers of Health 6

Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (FRCSE) 3

Edinburgh Obstetrical Society 2

Royal Society of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene 1

Royal College of Physicians of Ireland (FRCPI) 1

Royal College of Physicians of London (FRCP Lond) 1

Royal Australian College of Surgeons (FRACS) 1

Royal Institution 1

Zoological Society 1

Royal Anthropological Institution 1

Hunterian Society 1

Glasgow Obstetrical & Gynaecological Society 1

Research fellowships Beit Memorial Research Fellowship Ethel Boyce Research Fellowship Carnegie Research Fellowship

4 2 1 1

Table 7. Number of SWH doctors awarded fellowships.

35

1 FRCPI). Altogether, fellowships in obstetrics & gynaecology, public health and tropical

medicine make up 16 out of a total of 34 (47%) non-research fellowships.

Consultancy Positions

Fifteen women succeeded in securing consultant hospital positions, which are generally

considered to be the most prestigious. However, it is striking that ten of them became

consultant obstetricians & gynaecologists, to which their war-time experience would have

attributed little. Three of them were already consultants at the outbreak of war; Dr Benson in

India, Dr Ivens in Liverpool and Dr Cooper in Australia.147 Most of the others picked up their

careers where they had left off on return from the Front, with the exception of Dr Nicholson.

She had originally envisaged for herself a career in general practice, but was encouraged by Dr

Ivens to embark on a career as gynaecological surgeon. She followed in Dr Ivens’ footsteps,

taking on a consultancy position at the Liverpool Maternity Hospital, becoming a fellow of the

Royal College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists on her recommendation in 1931 and taking

over Ivens’ tasks as clinical lecturer at the University of Liverpool on Ivens’ marriage.148

Only five women made an equally successful career for themselves outside the sphere of

obstetrics & gynaecology; Dr Buckley, Dr Emslie-Hutton (Lady Hutton), Dr Estcourt-Oswald, Dr

Martland and Dr Savill became a consultant radiologist, psychiatrist, ophthalmologist,

pathologist and dermatologist respectively. Dr Estcourt-Oswald, as an ophthalmologist, was

the only non-gynaecological consultant surgeon of the cohort.

Professorships

This cohort contains both the first female professors of England and of Scotland. Dr McIlroy

was appointed Professor in Obstetrics & Gynaecology at the London School of Medicine for

Women (Royal Free Hospital) in 1921.149 This made her the very first female professor in both

England and Great Britain. Dr Fairlie, who had worked as an orderly at Royaumont, was

appointed Professor in Obstetrics & Gynaecology at the University of St Andrews (Dundee

Royal Infirmary) in 1940, a position she held until 1956. By the time she retired, she was still

147 Dr Elsie Inglis had been a senior consultant at the Bruntsfield Hospital (Edinburgh) before the War, but she was excluded from this study because of her untimely death. 148 "Pioneers: Ruth Nicholson, F.R.C.O.G. 1931". 149 S.J. Pitt, "McIlroy, Dame (Anne) Louise," Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, http://www.oxforddnb.com.ezproxy.lib.gla.ac.uk/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-47540?rskey=pxBhnb&result=1.

36

the only female professor in Scotland.150 There was a third woman who was professor, though

at a far less prestigious university, namely Dr Edna Mary Guest from Canada. After her

postgraduate studies in Boston (US), she worked at the Women's Medical College in Ludhiana

(India), where she served as Professor of Anatomy and Assistant Professor of Surgery between

1910-1914.151

Additionally, a few individuals held lecturing positions at universities, without ever making it

to the rank of professor. Dr Ivens was a clinical lecturer at the University of Liverpool until her

marriage in 1930, after which her protégée Dr Nicholson took over her lecturing tasks.152 Dr

Eppynt-Phillips was a lecturer in midwifery at Leeds University,153 Dr Proctor was head of the

Department of Hygiene & Bacteriology at King's College for Household & Social Sciences and

Examiner in Hygiene at the University of London,154 Dr Anderson was lecturer in Diseases of

Children at Ceylon Medical College155 and Dr Verney (née Conway) was a lecturer in Child Care

& Prevention of Disease at Battersea Polytechnic. Again, the predominance of the ‘feminine’

subjects (i.e. obstetrics & gynaecology, paediatrics, public health and missionary work) is

unmistakable.

Lastly, many women were lecturers to non-academic institutions, such as a local infants’

welfare centres, the Red Cross or the St John’s Ambulance Brigade.

World War II156

Many individuals who had served in, and survived, the First World War, lived to experience

the Second too. The SWH doctors played different roles in the Second World War than they

had done in the First. The following section will address these roles.

A total of 80 women in this cohort lived until at least 1940. This study identified eighteen

doctors who participated in some way during the Second World War. Their roles ranged from

knitting socks for soldiers at the Front to working as a Lieutenant with the RAMC in the Middle-

150 "Obituary: Margaret Fairlie," The Lancet 282, no. 7300 (1963): pp. 206-07; "Pioneers: Margaret Fairlie, F.R.C.O.G. (1891-1963)". 151 Bhimji and Sheinin, "Dr. Edna Mary Guest: She Promoted Women's Issues before It Was Fashionable," p. 1093. 152 "Pioneers: Ruth Nicholson, F.R.C.O.G. 1931". 153 "Career History and Testimonials of Dr Mary Eppynt Phillips of Merthyr Cynog," People's Collection Wales, https://www.peoplescollection.wales/items/428222. [Accessed 25 August 2018] 154 “Proctor, Ruth Elizabeth,” Medical Directory 1942, p. 248. 155 V. Bowker, "Catherine Emslie Anderson MB," http://www.tamesidehistoryforum.org.uk/doctoranderson.pdf. [Accessed 23 July 2018] 156 The names in this section are married names.

37

East, hence they are subdivided into medical and civilian contributions to the war effort.

Fifteen out of eighteen women fulfilled medical roles, though only one as a medical officer in

the RAMC. This was Dr Buckley, a consultant radiologist, who served in Palestine for two years

as a Lieutenant (see Chapter 10). She was granted an emergency appointment as Medical

Officer with the relative rank of Lieutenant in 1942,157 meaning that she had the benefits of an

officer of equal standing, but lacked the authority. In practice, this meant that she was inferior

to the men around her, despite her consultant status and extensive experience. This was a

problem that had already caused a lot of discussion during the First World War,158 yet

remained unresolved until after 1945.159

The other fourteen women served with a local branch of the Red Cross (Dr Dalyell, Dr Emslie-

Hutton, Dr Ivens-Knowles); with the New Zealand Women’s War Service Auxiliary (Dr Bennett

and Dr Scott); as an MO in a London tube shelter (Dr Potter); as an ophthalmologist on the

recruiting board (Dr Estcourt-Oswald); as (assistant) anaesthetist in a British hospital (Dr

Hamilton-Barr, Dr Lowe, Dr Stein, Dr Taylor); and as a surgeon in a London hospital (Dr

Martindale). Dr Martland and Dr McIlroy set up specialised departments in war hospitals

(pathology and maternity departments respectively). Dr Henry-Stewart, Dr Hope and Dr Keer

made civilian contributions to the war effort.

This study also found articles in the British Medical Journal of 1939 wherein Dr Ivens and Dr

Estcourt-Oswald shared their experiences from the First World War in relation to the outbreak

of the Second. Dr Ivens participated in a discussion on the treatment of gas gangrene,160 and

wanted to point out the insights of her 1917 publication.161 She also reflected on how her

extensive war-related experience with gas gangrene, had since helped her identify its

characteristic putrid odour in a neglected maternity case.162 Dr Estcourt-Oswald discussed the

risk of using atropine to treat mustard gas injuries to eye among civilians.163

157 See p. 1058: "Supplement to the London Gazette, 6 March, 1942," https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/35478/supplement/1058/data.pdf. [Accessed 21 August 2018] 158 Leneman, "Medical Women in the First World War--Ranking Nowhere." 159 The Defence (Women's Forces) Act of 1941 and the Women's Forces (Officers' Commissions) Order of 1941 enabled women to become commissioned RAMC officers, though this did not actually happen until after the Second World War. E.E. Vella, "The Development of Pathology in the R.A.M.C.," Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine 68, no. 5 (1975): pp. 324-25. 160 Ivens-Knowles, "Treatment of Gas Gangrene," p. 1161; "Treatment of Gas Gangrene," p. 1058. 161 Ivens, "A Clinical Study of Anaerobic Wound Infection, with an Analysis of 107 Cases of Gas Gangrene." 162 Ivens-Knowles, "Treatment of Gas Gangrene," p. 1058. 163 Agnes Estcourt-Oswald, "Gas Injuries to the Eye," ibid., no. 4115: p. 1019.

38

Lastly, few people know that there has been an attempt at reviving the SWH during the Second

World War. In 1940, the Royaumont Association set up a canteen in France which,

unfortunately, was forced to disband when the Germans invaded.164 Dr Henry, who was by

then residing in Montreal, was known to have raised funds for it in Canada.165

164 Leneman, In the Service of Life, p. 214. 165 Crofton, Angles of Mercy, p. 262.

39

Chapter 10. Medical Students

Judging by previous results, there seems to have been a tendency to continue pre-war careers.

Women who came back from the Front picked up where they had left off. It seems therefore

sensible to take a look at women who served with the SWH, but who had no previous careers

to get back to on demobilisation: pre-qualification doctors. This study identified a handful of

young women who served with the SWH as orderlies and/or assistants. They were either

taking a break from their medical studies to volunteer in the war effort, or did not pick up a

career a medicine until after the War. Because these ‘naïve’ women were especially influenced

by their war-time service, they deserve some special attention.

Crofton identified two medical students who served as orderlies at Royaumont during the

War;166 G.L. Buckley and Charlotte Almond. Leneman described Miss Rendel,167 and this study

identified a fourth: Margaret Fairlie.168

Frances Elinor Rendel (1885-1942) served as an assistant with the London Unit from August

1916 until October 1917 and returned after qualifying MRCS England & LRCP London in 1918.

She worked as a junior doctor under Dr Chesney from August 1918 until March 1919. Dr

Chesney was not popular, but she took Ellie Rendel under her wing.169 On return to Britain,

she graduated MB BS from the University of London (LSMW) in 1920. She became Clinical

Assistant at the Great Ormond Street Hospital and the Hospital for Diseases of the Heart in

London, positions she held from 1923 until 1937. She also opened a prestigious private

practice, becoming the private doctor of many London socialites, including Virginia Woolf and

others of the Bloomsbury Group.170

Gladys Lieba Buckley (1891-1956) obtained the Natural Science Tripos at Girton College,

Cambridge in 1914 and went on to study medicine at the Royal Free Hospital. She briefly

interrupted her medical studies to work at Royaumont, where she was trained by Dr Savill to

work as an Assistant X-ray Operator from August 1918 until January 1918.171 She even

travelled back to London to sit an exam halfway through.172 She qualified MRCS England &

166 Ibid., p. 275. 167 Leneman, In the Service of Life, p. 175. 168 "R.C.O.G. And the Scottish Women's Hospitals, 1914-18". 169 Leneman, In the Service of Life, p. 176. 170 Ibid., p. 211. 171 Crofton, Angles of Mercy, p. 71. 172 Ibid., p. 77.

40

LRCP London in 1922 and MB BS in 1923. Afterwards she worked as a Resident Surgeon at the

Royal Sea-bathing Hospital and as an Assistant Resident MO at the Ransom Sanatorium,

Mansfield. Her short period of service must have made a great impression on her, for she

decided to specialise in radiology and took the DRME of Cambridge in 1927. She moved to

Bournemouth to succeed the famous Dr Florence Stoney. She was a consultant radiologist to

several hospitals for 21 years and had a large private practice. She served as a radiologist in

the RAMC with the rank of Lieutenant in Palestine during the Second World War (see World

War II).173

Charlotte Almond (1892-1925) volunteered to work as an orderly at Royaumont. After the War

she continued her studies at King’s College, London and qualified MRCS England & LRCP

London in 1922, after which she took up position as a House Physician (1923) and House

Surgeon (1924) at King’s College Hospital. She married Mr H.L. Johnston in 1923 and is listed

in 1925 as Mrs Charlotte Johnston, working as Clinical Assistant in the neurological department

of King’s College Hospital. She died in 1925, shortly after giving birth to a daughter.

The fourth, Margaret Fairlie (1891-1963),174 would go on to become Scotland’s first female

professor. She studied medicine at the University of St Andrews/Dundee Royal Infirmary,

graduating MB ChB in 1915. She had worked as an orderly at Royaumont shortly before

graduating. She held various positions in Scottish hospitals until she opened a consultant

practice in Dundee in 1919. She began her academic career in 1920 at the Dundee Medical

School. She was appointed head of Dundee Royal Infirmary’s obstetrical and gynaecological

department in 1936, which led to her appointment as the first female professor in Scotland in

1940. When she retired in 1956, she was still the only one. Dr Fairlie was a founder-member

of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and was elected FRCOG in 1936,175

following in the footsteps of fellow SWH servicewomen Dr Ivens, Dr Martindale and Dr

McIlroy.

Moreover, Crofton identified three orderlies who went on to study medicine after the War.

These were Lucy Crange, Nettie Stein and Grace Summerhayes.176

173 "In Memoriam: G. Lieba Buckley, M.A., M.B., B.S., D.M.R.E," Journal of the Faculty of Radiologists 8, no. 2 (1956); "Obituary: Dr G. Lieba Buckley," British Medical Journal 2, no. 4986 (1956); "Supplement to the London Gazette, 6 March, 1942", p. 1058. 174 "Obituary: Margaret Fairlie." 175 "Pioneers: Margaret Fairlie, F.R.C.O.G. (1891-1963)". 176 Crofton, Angles of Mercy, p. 280.

41

Nettie Hunter Stein (1885-1965) graduated MA with honours from Glasgow University in 1909.

It is unknown what she did before the War, but she joined the SWH and worked as an orderly

at Royaumont from September 1917 until July 1918. This must have inspired her to study

medicine at the London School of Medicine for Women, graduating MB BS in 1925. She started

a private practice in Stirlingshire, until she took the Diploma of Laryngology and Otology from

the Royal College of Surgeons in 1930 and moved to Edinburgh to start practicing as a

laryngologist. She retired in 1940 but volunteered for the Emergency Medical Service. In 1942-

1945 she worked as an Assistant Anaesthetist at the Edinburgh Deaconess Hospital, before re-

retiring after the armistice.

Grace Maria Linton Summerhayes (1894-1993) was a schoolteacher from Colchester with one

blind eye (the results of an accident with a golf club as a child). She volunteered to work as an

orderly at Royaumont in 1917. She enrolled in the LSMW in 1918, graduating MB BS, MRCS

England & LRCP London in 1924. After several hospital positions in provincial England (e.g.

resident MO at the Royal Victoria Hospital 1926), she took the DTM&H in 1928 and embarked

on an adventure to set up a maternity hospital in Gold Coast (Ghana). There she met a senior

surgeon from Scotland called Dr Alexander MacRae, whom she married in 1931. They stayed

in Accra until the outbreak of the Second World War, when they returned to Gloucester. She

practiced there as a GP, got involved in public health and local politics, and was part of many

medical organisations. She remained active throughout her old age, retiring as president of

the local cancer research campaign at 90, and visiting hospitals in Nigeria at 98. She died in

1993, aged 99. 177

Lucy Margaret Cranage (1892-1976) had also been an orderly at Royaumont. She graduated

MRCS England & LRCP London from the LSMW in 1926. She was resident MO at the Royal

Victoria Hospital, Folkstone in 1928, just like Grace Summerhayes had been in 1926. It is

possible that her old Royaumont colleague put in a good word for her. Lucy took the DTM

Liverpool in 1928 and left for Uganda in 1929. She married an Italian named Vincenzo Costa in

that same year, becoming Mrs Costa. In 1931 she worked in Kenya with the Church Mission

Society Hospital, Mareno. They moved to Italy in 1934, though she remained a registered

practitioner in Kenya until at least 1952.178 It could also be possible that she continued to

practice in Africa. She died in Italy in 1976.

177 "Summerhayes Dr Grace Maria Linton". [Accessed 11 July 2018] 178 "The Medical Practitioners and Dentists Ordinance," The Kenya Gazette 54, no. 12 (1952).

42

These seven women all had their own experiences and careers. It is not just any group of

medical women, it includes a doctor with a prestigious private practice in London, a consultant

radiologist, the first Scottish professor, a laryngologist and two doctors who worked in Africa.

Sadly Miss Almond died prematurely. The real question is, to what extent did their war-time

service contribute to their successful careers? In one case it is obvious, Dr Buckley must have

picked up on a passion for radiography as Dr Savill’s assistant at Royaumont, because she

became a distinguished radiologist after the First World War and went on to serve as a

radiologist with the RAMC in the Second.179 At the same time, Dr Stein did not hesitate to

volunteer for the Emergency Medical Service and practiced as an Assistant Anaesthetist in

Edinburgh until 1945. In the other cases the influence was more subtle. Dr Summerhayes, who

had been a schoolteacher, found in the War an honourable excuse to leave her unsatisfying

job.180 She certainly had a sense of adventure, for she specialised in tropical medicine and left

for Africa. The same goes for Dr Cranage, probably a friend of Summerhayes’, who went on to

work in Uganda and Kenya as a missionary. Thus, though the influence of the War is most

outspoken in the cases of Dr Buckley and Dr Stein, it could be argued that all these women

returned home inspired and with an appetite for adventure. Even the ones whose careers

were not obviously affected by the War enjoyed impressively successful careers. It is not

unlikely that fellow SWH ‘veterans’ Dr Martindale, Dr Ivens, Dr McIlroy and Dr Nicholson

played a vital role in Dr Fairlie’s election as FRCOG in 1936 and her consecutive appointment

as the first female professor in Scotland in 1940. These women formed a strong bond during

the War and supported each other in every way for the remainder of their lives.

179 Eileen Crofton makes the same point in Angles of Mercy, p. 224. 180 From an interview with Dr Grace MacRae in 1993, as cited by Crofton. Ibid., p. 277.

43

Conclusion

This dissertation has extensively studied the lives of a group of remarkable early medical

women. It started with a brief description of the Scottish Women’s Hospitals’ organisation and

achievements. Subsequently, it has touched on these women’s origins and a wide range of

accomplishments. The majority of the cohort was of English or Scottish origin and had

graduated from either an English or a Scottish institution.

Contemporaries feared that women doctors would refrain from marriage and its domestic

duties. At time of service, eight of these doctors were married and another twenty-four would

marry later in life. The overall marriage rate was 33%, which was below the national average

but not nearly as low as was feared. Moreover, the proportion of women that ceased practice

upon marriage was small. In fact, they actively challenged the marriage bar in the press.

Furthermore, these women did not return from the Front emptyhanded, for they were

decorated by a variety of governments. Some were honoured for their contributions to

medicine -or society at large- in their later careers.

When looking into academic qualifications, it becomes clear that these women were better

qualified than the women studied in comparable cohort studies. The predominance of

diplomas in midwifery, public health and tropical medicine, however, cannot be disregarded.

This trend is even more notable in the post-war careers explored in Chapter 9. The vast

majority of these women worked in the sectors of public health, women & children, and

missionary/tropical medicine. Some of them were exceptionally successful, but they excelled

within the confines of what was considered appropriate for women. Merely five women

obtained consultancy positions outside pre-mentioned sectors, namely in the fields of

pathology, dermatology, psychiatry, ophthalmology and radiology. No woman succeeded in

making an equally successful career for herself in general surgery or internal medicine; the

pre-eminent sectors of medicine controlled by the male-dominated Royal Colleges.

So, to what extent did the First World War contribute to their subsequent careers? Most of

the women who achieved unsurmountable successes in their later careers, did so within the

scope of obstetrics & gynaecology, to which their war-time experiences would have

contributed little. What’s more, they already had promising careers in gynaecology before the

War! The ones who had the most success (Dr Ivens-Knowles, Dr McIlroy and Dr Emslie-

44

Hutton181), were the ones who served with the SWH as CMO precisely because they were

already accomplished doctors at the outbreak of War.182 Although most women served as

surgeons, treating young men’s battle wounds, the only individual to pursue a career in non-

gynaecological surgery was Dr Estcourt-Oswald, an ophthalmologist.

During and shortly after the War, a certain sense of hopeful expectation prevailed. In 1914 Dr

Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, whilst addressing the SWH in a speech, predicted: ‘My dears, if

you are successful over this work, you will have carried women’s profession forward a hundred

years.’183 In 1916 Professor Weinberg, a prominent French professor from the Pasteur

Institute, stated that he could not think of any other initiative on the part of medical women,

which would so convincingly further their cause.184 Winston Churchill himself wrote that ‘The

record of their work in Russia and Rumania [sic] lit up by the fame of Elsie Inglis will shine in

history. Their achievements in France and Serbia and Greece and other theatres were no less

valuable, and no body of women has won higher reputation for organizing power and for

efficacy in works of mercy.’185 Indeed, it is generally believed that the War did great things for

the emancipation of women. Unfortunately, most of the progress that was made between

1914-1918 was reversed once the men returned from the Front. The London teaching

hospitals that had opened their doors to women went on to close them again after the

armistice. Though The Representation of the People Act of 1918 granted certain women over

thirty the vote, it was not until 1928 that women gained electoral equality. The marriage bar,

requiring professional women to give up employment upon marriage, continued to hinder

medical women’s ambitions until well into the second half of the twentieth century. Economic

and political power, as well as pre-eminency within the medical profession, remained securely

within the hands of men. Leneman concluded that ‘The Scottish Women’s Hospitals for

Foreign Service were not, therefore, a precursor of anything: they were unique.’186

181 Though listed as a psychiatrist, Dr Emslie had been Chief Physician of the women’s department of the Royal Mental Hospital Edinburgh. Anita McConnell, "Hutton, Isabel Galloway Emslie [Née Isabel Galloway Emslie], Lady Hutton," Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-71709?rskey=pVzHlm&result=1. 182 E. Crawford, "Women and the First World War: The Work of Women Doctors," https://womanandhersphere.com/2014/05/06/women-and-the-first-world-war-the-work-of-women-doctors/. [Accessed 27 August 2018] 183 Royal Free Hospital Press Cuttings, Book 5 p. 86. As cited by Crofton, Angles of Mercy, p. 9. 184 McLaren, A History of the Scottish Women's Hospitals, p. viii. 185 Ibid. 186 Leneman, In the Service of Life, p. 220.

45

Service with the SWH during the Great War undoubtedly improved the situation for a number

of these women, for it created a supporting network of like-minded and ambitious medical

women. During their time of service, they forged lasting friendships and learnt a lot from each

other. The Royaumont Unit took this even further, by formally establishing an association and

continuing to keep in touch until death parted them. Additionally, these individuals proudly

listed their service on the Medical Directories and they were respected for it. Nevertheless,

the Scottish Women’s Hospitals’ war-time successes did not benefit women in the medical

profession at large.

The results of this study were limited by a number of factors. First and foremost, the Medical

Directory does not specify a position in general practice. In the case of men, it is assumed that

any doctor practices as a GP unless stated otherwise. Women, however, could also have

ceased practice due to marriage or domestic duties. This problem was previously encountered

by Dupree187 and Kelly188 when working with the Medical Directory as a historical source.

Secondly, the cohort may not be as complete as it could have been. Some individuals were

lost during the follow-up (did they maybe have a general practice?), and there is no way of

knowing if there were any additional doctors or medical students who served with the SWH

during the War. Lastly, the arbitrary nature of categorisation comes with its own problems;

there is much overlap and everyone seemed to do a little bit of everything. Though this is

illustrative for the nature of the medical profession at the time, it hindered this study’s

statistical approach. Further research, therefore, should strive to confirm (or reject) these

findings by taking a less quantitative approach.

187 M.W. Dupree and M.A. Crowther, "A Profile of the Medical Profession in Scotland in the Early Twentieth Century: The Medical Directory as a Historical Source," Bull Hist Med 65, no. 2 (1991). 188 Kelly, Irish Women in Medicine.

46

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Appendix 1Name Service Birth Death Nationality Basic

Qualification (MB

BS or similar)

Titles, medals, fellowships (apart

from basic qualification)

Career Pre-war career Post-war career Consultan

t/Profess

or

Marriage WW2 Service Member of feminist

society

Sources

ADAMS Mary Irene AssMO Royaumont

21 May 1918 - 5 Jan

1919

1891 1977 Irish MB BCh BAO 1917

QU Belfast

BSc 1912, British Victory and War

medals 1921, DPH 1922, Fellow

Soc MOH 1935

She was born in Newry (Northern-Ireland), and graduated in medicine at the Queen's University of Belfast in

1917. She served with the SWH at Royaumont during the last year of the War. She became a member of the

Society of Medical Officers of Health in 1921. She then took a public health appointment in Cardiff, where

she was also assistant to the professor of obstetrics in the Welsh National School of Midwifery and practised

at the Cardiff Royal Infirmary. In 1929 she went to the North-West Province of India and served for five

years as a medical missionary. On her return to Britain she was appointed AssMO for the Rhondda urban

district (Wales). She was elected Fellow of the Society of Medical Officers of Health in 1935. She then

worked as Deputy MO for Hammersmith and later for Fulham, becoming MOH for Fulham in 1951. She

retired in 1959.

N/A Public Health,

Missionary/Tropical

Medicine, Obstetrics

No No Unspecified Unspecified "Obituary: M Irene Adams." British Medical

Journal , no. 6071 (1977), p. 1289.; "Mary Irene

Adams" Ancestry; Medical Directory

1921/1930/1935/1940/1941/1942

ALDRICH-BLAKE

Louisa Brandreth

Spent her holidays

working at

Royaumont

(summers 1915 &

1916) [included

manually]

1865 1925 Eng MB (honours)

1892, BS

(honours) 1893 U

of London

MD 1894 London, MS 1895

London, 1910 Fellow Roy Soc

Med, DBE 1925

She was a world-famous suffragist and pioneering women's surgeon. However, she played only a minor role

in the SWH, spending two consecutive summer holidays at Royaumont so that Dr Ivens could take some

time off. She was known as "La Générale" (in contrast to Dr Ivens who was known as "La Colonelle"). She

was born in Essex and matriculated at the LSMW in 1887, graduating MB 1892 and BS 1893 with honours.

She was the first woman MS in 1895. She held consultant surgeon positions at the Royal Free Hospital, the

New Hospital for Women, the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital and Canning Town Settlement Hospital.

She was appointed dean of the LSMW in 1914. She was actively involved in the medical women's

involvement in the War effort. She was founding treasurer of the Medical Women's Federation in 1917. She

was also an author of gynaecological literature, she introduced a new procedure to treat rectal cancer in

1903.

Obstetrics &

Gynaecology

(surgery)

Obstetrics &

Gynaecology

(surgery)

Yes No N/A Medical Women's

Federation

"Louisa Aldrich-Blake, D.B.E., M.D., M.S." British

Medical Journal , no. 3393 (1926), pp. 69-71.;

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography ; Medical

Directory 1915/1925

ALEXANDER Mary

(Mrs Silver)

Dr Girton

Newnham Unit 1

Oct 1915 - 1 Oct

1916

1886 >1975 Scot MB ChB 1910 U of

Glasgow

MA 1906 Glasgow, British Victory

and War medals 1921

She was a promising student from Glasgow. She served with SWH in Salonica under Dr McIlroy as Ass Surg.

After the War she returned to Scotland for a short time. In 1920 and 1921 the Medical Directory lists her as

MO Christina Rainy Hospital Madras India. She married fellow Glasgow graduate Alexander Silver (MA 1907)

in 1925. From then on she is listed as "Mrs Mary Silver." They worked in South India, living at the Church of

Scotland Mission at Arkonan. At some point they returned to Scotland, her last known address is in

Edinburgh in 1975. Date of death unknown.

? Missionary/Tropical

Medicine

No Mr Alexander

Silver, 1925

Unspecified Unspecified Assistant Surgeon Mary Alexander,' University of

Glasgow Story

https://www.universitystory.gla.ac.uk/ww1-

biography/?id=1755, Medical Directory

1920/1921/1931/1941 ("Mrs Silver")

ALMOND Charlotte

Katharine Jocelyn

(Mrs Johnston)

Orderly Royaumont

9 Jul 1918 - 17 Sep

1918

1892 1925 Eng MRCS Eng & LRCP

Lond 1922 (King's

College)

British Victory and War medals

1921

She served as an orderly at Royaumont in 1918. After the War she enrolled at King's College London to

study medicine. She graduated in 1922 and married Mr H.L. Johnston 1923. In 1923 she was Ho Phys to

King's College Hospital and in 1924 Ho Surg. In 1925 she worked as an Clin Ass in the neurological

department of King's Coll Hospital. She died in 1925 shortly after giving birth to a daughter.

N/A Various hospital

positions

No Mr Hugh L.

Johnston,

1923

N/A Unspecified Angels of Mercy (Crofton, 2013), "Charlotte

Katherine Joscelyn Almond" Ancestry, Medical

Directory "Mrs Johnston" 1922-1925

ANDERSON

Catherine Emslie

Dr Ajaccio, Corsica

8 Oct 1915 - ? Feb

1916

1881 1934 Ceylon-

British

MB ChB 1904 U of

Aberdeen

DTM 1905 Liverpool, LM 1907

Dublin, FRCSE 1921

She was born in Ceylon to British colonials, her father was a tea planter. In 1909 she was the first female

doctor at Ashton General Hospital as Jr Ho Surg. She was appointed ResMO at Lady Havelock Hospital for

Women and Children in Colombo, Ceylon 1911. She took the DTM Liverpool (Aberdeen) and then left for

Ceylon to work for the Colonial Medical Service; Lady Havelock Hospital for Women and Children and Lady

Ridgeway for Children Hospital. She also was a lecturer in diseases of children at Ceylon Medical College.

She served with the SWH in Serbia and Corsica 1915-16. She was elected FRCS Edinburgh in 1921. She

published on hook worms in BMJ 1922. By then she MO i/c at forementioned hospitals. At one point she

was diagnosed with cancer, she went missing at sea/died on a ship en route to Ceylon 1934.

Women & Children,

Missionary/Tropical

Medicine, Lecturer

Women & Children,

Missionary/Tropical

Medicine

No No N/A Unspecified Bowker, 'Catherine Emslie Anderson MB'

http://www.tamesidehistoryforum.org.uk/doctor

anderson.pdf ; Medical Directory

1905/1910/1921/1931

BENNETT Agnes

Elizabeth Lloyd

CMO America Unit

4 Aug 1916 - 1 Sep

1917

1872 1960 Aus MB CM 1899 U of

Edinburgh

BSc 1894 Sydney, MD 1911

Edinburgh, Order St Sava 3rd

class, Serbian Red Cross Medal,


1921, OBE 1948

She was born in Sydney, Australia but partly educated in England. She won a scholarschip in 1890 and took a

BSc at the University of Sydney in 1894. At that time she was involved in local Women's Association (later

University Women's Settlement). She couldn't find much work as a teacher so she left for Britain to study

medicine in Edinburgh, graduating MB CM in 1899. Was for 1 year Res Medical Ass at the Stirling District

Asylum; she published on general paralysis in the Edinburgh Medical Journal in 1900. On return to Australia

in 1901 she set up a private practice but suffered from prejudice against women. She briefly worked as Jr

MO at the Hospital for the Insane. Dissatisfied, she took over a private practice in Wellington (NZ) that

flourished. She was CMO at St Helen's Maternity Hospital 1908-1936 and Hon Physician to the children's

ward of the Wellington Hospital from 1910. She submitted a thesis on breastfeeding, and was granted the

MD from Edinburgh in 1911. She was a vocal defender of women's right to education. She was the first

female officer (Captain) in the British Army, Cairo 1915. She served with the SWH as CMO of the America

Unit in Serbia. She had to resign in 1917 because of malaria. She received the Order of St Sava 3rd class and

the Serbian Red Cross Medal. She worked on troopships during the Spanish influenza pandemic after her

recovery and temporarily at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary and the Military Hospital, Southampton. She

returned to NZ in 1920. She was the first president of the Wellington branch of the International Federation

of University Women in 1923, and represented NZ at its conference in Poland in 1936. She retired officially

1936, but sigend up as MO with the Flying Doctors Hospital Burketown, Australia 1938-39. She helped form

the NZ Women's War Service Auxiliary in 1939. She served in British hospitals 1940-1942. She returned to

NZ in 1942, where she began lecturing on VD and birth control. Aged 75 she worked for a few weeks on the

remote Chatham islands to relieve an ill doctor, for which she gained national fame. She was awarded the

OBE in 1948. Author Baby's Welfare: Hints to Mothers .

Psychiatry, Women

& Children

Women & Children,

Lecturer,

"Adventurous jobs"

No No Helped form NZ

Women's War

Service Auxiliary

1939. Worked in

several UK hospitals

during WW2. Return

NZ 1942.

Local Women's

Association,

International

Federation of

University Women

"Obituary: Agnes Bennett, O.B.E., M.D., B.Sc."

British Medical Journal , no. 5218 (1961), pp. 58-

59.; Brookes, B. "A Corresponding Community: Dr

Agnes Bennett and Her Friends from the

Edinburgh Medical College for Women of the

1890s." Med Hist 52, no. 2 (Apr 2008), pp. 237-

56., Australian & NZ Dictionary of National

Biography; Medical Directory

1905/1910/1921/1931/1940

50

Name Service Birth Death Nationality Basic

Qualification (MB

BS or similar)




t/Profess

or


society

Sources

BENSON Annette

Matilda

CMO London Unit

20 Feb 1918 - 1 Dec

1918

1863 1948 Eng MB 1890 U of

London

BSc 1888 London, MD 1893

London, Order of St Sava 3rd

class, Serbian Red Cross Medal

Medal, Kaisar-i-Hind medal 1st

class 1921, Member Royal

Institution 1929

She was one of the earliest medical graduates of this cohort, she graduated in 1890. She started as Res Clin

Ass at the Paddington Infirmary 1890 (?). Then she was ResMO at Claybury Asylum LCC. In 1894, she

became the first female physician at Cama Hospital, Bombay. after much difficulties finding employement in

England. She became Sr Physician to the Cama Hospital & Albless Hospital, Bombay. She worked in India as

head of the Cama (civil) Hospital, Bombay (officered entirely by women). She was the founding president of

the Association of Medical Women in India. She became consultant obstetric physician Cama Hospital, in

1914. She was a prominent Indian missionary. She was awarded the Kaisar-i-Hind medal 1st class in 1921 for

her service in India. She became a member of the Royal Institution in 1929. She was active within the

London branch of the Medical Women's Federation 1930.

Missionary/Tropical

Medicine

Missionary/Tropical

Medicine

Yes No Unspecified Association of

Medical Women in

India

In the Service of Life (Leneman, 1994); Medical

Directory 1895/1910/1921/1931/1941/1942;

"Annette Matilda Benson" Ancestry

BERRY Jessie

Augusta (née Lewin)

Dr Royaumont 1

Dec 1914 - 1 Jul

1918

1871 1955 Eng MB 1904 U of

London


1921

Not much is known about her career, maybe something in public health. She probably joined Royaumont

after a personal request from Dr Ivens, whom she studied with at the LSMW. She married a farmer Mr Berry

in 1911, but had never practiced as a doctor before the War (?). She was one of the first to join the

Royaumont team. She had to quit in August 1918 because of a mental breakdown. She received salary until

after the War, paid to her husband because she was treated in a mental institution. She probably never

practiced again. She is listed in the Medical Directory with just an address for the rest of her life.

? Ceased practice No Mr Berry,

1911

Unspecified Unspecified Angels of Mercy (Crofton, 2013); In the Service of

Life (Leneman, 1994); Medical Directory

1905/1910 ("Miss Lewin") 1915/1920/1921/1930

("Mrs Berry"); "Jessie Augusta Berry" Ancestry

BIGNOLD Mary

Florence

Dr Valjevo 1 Apr

1915 - 1 Sep 1915

1883 1966 Eng MB ChB 1907 U of

Edinburgh


1921, Fellow Soc MOH

She served with the SWH as Ass Physician in Serbia in 1915. Later she worked as Civil Surg at St John's

Military Hospital, Malta 1916. Later that year she was MO attached to RAMC 1916. In 1930 is listed as:

'AssMOH Brighton, member BMA and Fellow Soc MOH, late ResMO Blackburn Fever Hospital, Res AssMO

Blackburn Workhouse, ResMO Jenny Lind Hospital for Children Norwich.' She died in 1966 in Sussex as

"retired MO for Health."

? Public Health No No Unspecified Unspecified "Mary Florence Bignold" Ancestry, Medical

Directory 1910/1915/1921/1930/1941

BLAIR Mary Alice Dr Ajaccio, Corsica

8 Oct 1915 - ? Sep

1916

1880 1962 NZ MB BS 1907 U of

London

BSc 1902 New Zealand, MD 1910

London

She studied medicine at the LSMW and had many concurrent positions in London before the War; The

Medical Directory of 1914 lists her as: 'Hon Anaesthetist Medical Mission Hospital Plaistow, Demonstrator

anatomy at LSMW, Sr Clin Ass New Hospital for Wom, Clin Ass Gyn department Roy Free Hospital, MO Mrs

Anstruthers clinic, lecturer first aid/nursing LCC. Member Association for Registered Medical Women. Late

Hon Surg Belgrave Hospital Children, ResMO Mat department New Hospital Wom, Hon Surg New Hospital

for Wom.' She has published articles on heat-stroke and gynaelogical hygiene in The Lancet in 1911. She had

a private gynaecological practice, first in Kensington and later in Westminster. She served with the SWH in

Corsica, tending to Serbian refugees. In 1916-18 she was Civil Surgeon attached to RAMC in Malta/Salonica.

In 1918-19 she served with the QMAAC as Sr MO at Civilian Hospital Isleworth, London. After the War she

was a lecturer in nursing, infants' welfare and public health and she had a private practice in obstetrics and

gynaecology in England.

Anaesthesiology,

Obstetrics &

Gynaecology,

Lecturer

Public Health,

Lecturer, Obestetrics

& Gynaecology

No No Unspecified Association of

Registered Medical

Women, Medical

Women's Federation

Cronin, "The Great Women of Anaesthesia: Mary

Alice Blair."

http://www.geoffreykayemuseum.org.au/the-

great-women-of-anaesthesia-mary-alice-blair/.;

Medical Directory 1914/1921/1930/1945

BLAKE Mabel Nellie Dr America Unit 17

Apr 1918 - 14 May

1919

1893 Scot MB ChB 1917 U of

Glasgow


1921

She was born in Greenock. After graduating she worked as Ho Surg in the North Lonsdale Hospital in

Barrow. She joined the SWH in 1918, served with the America Unit in Serbia. She became a member of the

Society of Medical Officers of Health in 1920. In 1921 she had a temporary position as Ho Phys at Belvidere

Fever Hospital Glasgow. Subsequently (from at least 1925), she was appointed Ass School & Child Welfare

MO Salop County Council until at least 1942.

N/A Public Health No No ? Unspecified Medical Directory 1921/1930/1941

BROOK Elizabeth

Hamilton

Dr Mladanovatz 1

Mar 1915 - 1 Nov

1915

1880 1947 Scot MB ChB 1906 U of

Edinburgh

LM Dublin 1907, DPH RCPI/RCSI

1910, British Victory and War

medals 1921

After graduation she worked as ResMO at the Union Hospital Halifax, Drumcondra Hospital Dublin and the

Jenny Lind Infirmary for Children Norwich. She served with the SWH in 1915. Sheorked in public health in

Lancashire all her life: from 1915-1920 she was School Medical Inspector for the Lancashire County Council.

In 1921 she got promoted to AssMO for Lancashire County, a position she held until her retirement. She was

a member of the BMA, the Society of Medical Officers of Health and the Medical Women's Federation.

Various hospital

positions

Public Health No No Unspecified Medical Women's

Federation

"Obituary: Dr Elizabeth Hamilton Brook." British

Medical Journal , no. 4496 (1947), p. 316.;

"Elizabeth Hamilton Brook" Ancestry; Medical

Directory

1910/1915/1920/1921/1930/1940/1942

BUCKLEY Gladys

Lieba

Ass Bacteriologist

and Assistant X-Ray

Operator

Royaumont 3 Aug

1918 - 1 Jan 1919

[Medical Directory

lists her as Ass Bact

1915-16 and Ass X-

Ray 1916-17]


Lond 1922

(LSMW); MB BS

1923 U of London

Nat Sc Tri 1914 Cambridge, British

Victory and War medals 1921,

MA 1926 Cambridge, DMRE 1927

Cambridge

She was a Cambridge undergraduate who had partially completed her medical studies. She worked as an

assistant at Royaumont, first in bacteriology (1915-16) and later as assistant X-ray operator (1916-17). She

even went back in 1916 to sit an exam. After the War she finished her medical studies and qualified in 1923.

She worked as Res Surg at the Royal Sea-Bathing Hospital Margate 1923-24. Then she became Ass ResMO at

the Ransom Sanatorium. She took the DMRE in 1927 and became a distinguished radiologist. She took over

Florence Stoney's private radiological practice in Bournemouth. She was Hon AssMO to the

Radiotherapeutic department of the Royal Victoria & West Hants Hospital. Bournemouth. She was a

consultant radiologist to several hospitals. She served in the WW2 as a Lt. with the RAMC in Palestine 1942-

43. She was a member council (past president Wessex branch) of the British Institute for Radiology, a

member of the Bournemouth Medical Society and the BMA.

N/A Radiology Yes No Consultant

radiologist (relative

rank Lieutenant)

with the RAMC in

Palestine 1942-

1943.

Unspecified "Obituary: Dr G. Lieba Buckley." British Medical

Journal , no. 4986 (1956), p. 247; "In Memoriam:

G. Lieba Buckley, M.A., M.B., B.S., D.M.R.E."

Journal of the Faculty of Radiologists , no. 2

(1956), p. 144.; "Gladys Lieba Buckley" Ancestry,

Medical Directory 1926/1931/1942, Angels of

Mercy (Crofton, 2013)

BULLOCK Marian

Theresa (née Pool)

Dr Sallanches 18

Mar 1918 - 2 Jul

1919

1877 1956 Eng MB 1904 U of

London; LRCP,

LRCS Edinburgh &

LFPS Glasgow

1904 (LSMW)

She studied at the LSMW, and took the Scottish triple qualification in 1904. She married William Carey

Bullock in 1905. She then worked as Clin Ass at the Evelina Haverfeld Hospital and the Royal Waterloo

Hospital for Women & Children. She served with SWH as CMO in Sallanches. In 1920 she was MO at

Kingston Infant Welfare and anaesthetist at a dental clinic. In 1922 she was MO at the Lady Gonn

Dispensary. From 1931-42 she is listed as MO at Lady Gomm Dispensary, MO at the LCC Treatment Centre

and Anaesthetist at the Lamartine Yates Clinic.

Women & Children Public Health,

Anaesthesiology

No Mr W.C.

Bullock, 1905

Unspecified Unspecified Medical Directory "Miss Pool" 1905, "Mrs

Bullock" 1910/1915/1921/1930/1942

BUTLER Elizabeth

(née Lizzie Thomson

Fraser)

Dr Royaumont 1

May 1915 - 1 Sep

1915

1878 1960 Scot MB ChB 1900 U of

Glasgow

MD (honours) 1906 Glasgow,

Bellahouston Gold Medal, Ethel

Boyce Fellowship, Beit Memorial

Research Fellow, DPH 1916

Oxford, British Victory and War

medals 1921

She was born Elizabeth Thomson Fraser in Uphall, Linlithgowshire in 1878. She matriculated at QMC in

1895, aged 17. She shared classes with Dr McIlroy and Dr Savill, among others. She was an outstanding

student, graduated with lots of medals and merits in 1900. She was awarded the Bellahouston Gold Medal

for her thesis 'On the Value of the Tuberculo-opsonic Index in Diagnosis' in 1906. She was appointed Ass

Bacteriologist at Glasgow Royal Infirmary in 1907. She married Frederick William Robertson Butler in 1914,

a lecturer at the University of Lemberg in Austria. She had been awarded a Beit Memorial Research

Fellowship from the Lister Institute and she had been working on a cancer research project in Lemberg just

before the War. She and her husband became refugees when the War began. She set up a laboratory at

Royaumont, which received high praise from Dr Weiberg from the Pasteur Institute, while her husband

temporarily worked as a chauffeur at Royaumont. After the War she lived in Glasgow where she worked as

a Senior MO at the Scottish Filling Factory Georgetown until retirement. She then moved to Sussex, England.

Author of the Manual of Immunity for Students & Practitioners (1912).

Bacteriology/Researc

h

Company doctor No Mr F.W.

Robertson

Butler, 1914

Unspecified Unspecified Surgeon Elizabeth Fraser,' University of Glasgow

Story https://www.universitystory.gla.ac.uk/ww1-

biography/?id=834 ; Medical Directory "Mrs

Butler" 1921/1926/1930/1931/1941/1945,

Angels of Mercy (Crofton, 2013); First Ladies of

Medicine (Alexander, 1987); Dissertation

McMillan (unpublished, 2018)

51


Qualification (MB

BS or similar)




t/Profess

or


society

Sources

CAMPBELL Adeline

Herbert

Dr Kraguievatz 12

Dec 1914 - 1 Jun

1915

1887 1965 Scot MB ChB 1912 U of

St Andrews

MA 1909 St Andrews, Order St

Sava 5th class, Serbian Red Cross

Medal, Serbian War Medical

Service Medal, British Victory and

War medals 1921

She matriculated at St Andrews University in 1905 with a Taylor Thomson bursary. She graduated MA in

1909 and MB ChB in 1912. Her two sisters also studied medicine. She played hockey during her time at

university. Then she became Ho Surg at the Hospital for Sick Children in Chelsea. She served for a short

while with SWH in Kraguievatz, she left when she felt she was more needed elsewhere. She was never

allowed to return to SWH. She and Katherine MacPhail took over a 150 bed typhus ward in Belgrade, for

which she was awarded the Order of St Sava 5th class, Serbian Red Cross Medal,and the Serbian War

Medical Service Medal. She served with the QMAAC in 1918. After the War she practiced as Ass Physician in

Edinburgh at the Edinburgh Women's & Children Hospital and The Hospice until retirement.

Women & Children Women & Children No No Unspecified Unspecified In the Service of Life (Leneman, 1994); Medical

Directory 1921/1931/1935/1941; "Dr Adeline

Herbert Campbell" Ancestry

CHESNEY Lilian Mary Dr Kraguievatz 1

Mar 1915 - 1 Nov

1915; London Unit

30 Aug 1916 - 1 Sep

1917 and 20 Feb

1919 - 1 Mar 1919

1869 1935 Eng MB ChB 1899 U of

Edinburgh

DPH 1908 Durham, Order of St

Anna 1921, Order of St Sava 5th

Class 1921, British Victory and

War medals 1921

She was born in Harrow, London. She graduated MB ChB Edinburgh in 1899. She did postgraduate studies at

the University of Vienna. She took the DPH Durham in 1908. In 1909 she was a lecturer in Home Hygiene,

London. She suffered from sciatica. During the War she served as Ass Surg with SWH in Serbia and Russia.

She took Miss Rendel under her wing as her protegée. Later she worked as Surg to the 2nd Serbo-English

Field Hospital and was Clin Ass at the Belgrave Children's Hospital. She has published on hygiene,

laryngology and on the typhus epidemic in Serbia in The Practitioner . She was awarded the Order of St Anna

and St Sava 5th Class in 1921. She practiced as a throat/nose specialist in London before moving to Majorca

in 1920, perhaps because of her sciatica. Presumably she had a private practice there. She promoted the

Baeleric Islands for health and holiday purposes. She was a member of the North of England Obstetrical

&Gynaecological Society. She was an active member of the Association of Registered Mededical Women.

She died suddenly in Palma, Mallorca in 1935. Author 'Typhus Work in Serbia' (The Practitioner , 1916) and

'The Balearic Islands as a Health Resort' (ibid , 1920).

Laryngology, Public

Health, Women &

Children, Lecturer

Laryngology, GP? No No N/A Association of

Registered Medical

Women

In the Service of Life (Leneman, 1994); "Obituary:

Lilian Mary Chesney." The Lancet 227, no. 5863

(1936), pp. 112-13.; Medical Directory

1920/1921/1931/1935

CONWAY Ruth Eden

(Mrs Verney)

Dr Girton

Newnham Unit 8

Oct 1918 - 25 Sep

1919

1894 1986 Welsh MB ChB 1917 VU

Manchester


1921, MRCP Lond 1921, MD 1923

Manchester

She was born in Cardiff, she was the daughter of a university professor. She came from an educated upper

middle-class family. She served with the SWH in Salonica. After the War she took the MRCP in 1921. She

married Prof Dr Ernest Basil Verney (F.R.S., renal physiology) in 1923, they had 3 children. They had met at

the East London Hospital for Children in Shadwell, where Ruth was ResMO (his senior) and Ernest House

Physician. She graduated MD from Manchester in 1923. She published 'Determination of the Hydrogen-ion

Concentration of the Blood' (1926) while she worked for the Medical Research Council. She was an active

member of the Medical Women's Federation, the Physiology Society of GB & Ireland and she published

articles in the BMJ and physiology journals. She became lecturer at Cambridge and Battersea Polytechnic.

She was interviewed as Ruth Verney by Peter Liddle in 1977, she described her time with the SWH was a

happy one.

N/A Physiology/Research

, Paediatrics,

Lecturer

No Dr Ernest

Basil Verney,

1923

Unspecified Medical Women's

Federation

In the Service of Life (Leneman, 1994); De Burgh

and Pickford,"Ernest Basil Verney, 1894-1967,"

Biogr Mem Fellows R Soc 16 (1970), pp. 523-42.;

Medical Directory "Miss Conway" 1921 "Mrs

Conway Verney" 1931/1942

COOPER Lilian Violet Dr America Unit 1

Aug 1916 - 1 Sep

1917

1861 1947 Eng LRCP, LRCS

Edinburgh & LFPS

Glasgow 1890

(LSMW)

MD 1912 Durham, Order St Sava

4th class, British Victory and War

medals 1921, FRACS 1928

She was born in Chatham, England. She studied medicine despite parental opposition. She matriculated at

the LSMW in 1886 and graduated in 1890. She worked briefly in Halstead before moving to Australia with

her lifelong companion Josephine Bedford. She was the first female practitioner in Queensland, Australia in

1891. She joined the Medical Society of Queensland in 1893. She became Hon MO at the Hospital for Sick

Children (becoming the first australian woman consultant) and the Lady Lamington Hospital for Women. In

1905 she became associated with the Mater Misericordiae Hospital and stayed with it for the rest of her life

(1906-1945). She returned to England in 1911, where she took the MD at the University of Durham in 1912.

She and Bedford joined SWH together and served in Serbia. She was awarded the Order of St Sava 4th Class.

She returned to Brisbane in 1923 and had a successful private practice. She was a founding Fellow of the

Royal Austral(as)ian College of Surgery in 1928. She was a founding member of the Queensland Medical

Women's Society, and was elected Hon Member in 1945. She represented the National Council of Women in

Stockholm. She retired in 1941. She never married; she was lifelong companions of Miss Bedford.

Women & Children

(surgeon)

Women & Children

(surgeon)

Yes No Unspecified Queensland Medical

Women's Society,

National Council of

Women

Australian Dictionary of National Biography ,

Cramond, "Lilian Violet Cooper, MD, FRACS,

Foundation Fellow, Royal Australasian College of

Surgeons" Aust N Z J Surg 63, no. 2 (Feb 1993),

pp. 134-42.; "Lilian Cooper (1861-1947)"

https://www.qld.gov.au/about/about-

queensland/history/women/assets/lilian-cooper-

biography.pdf ; In the Service of Life (Leneman,

1994), Medical Directory 1921/1941

CORBETT Catherine

Louisa

Dr Kraguievatz 1

Mar 1915 - 29 Feb

1916; Dr London

Unit 30 Aug 1916 -

24 Nov 1917

1877 1960 Eng MB ChB 1905 VU

Manchester

DPH 1907 Cambridge, Order of St

Sava 5th class 1921, British

Victory and War medals 1921

Corbett was, along with Catherine Chisholme, the first woman doctor to qualify from the University of

Manchester in 1905. After graduation she became Jr MO at Clapham Maternity Hospital, MO Chelsea

Hospital for Women and AssMO West Ham and East London Hospital. She decided to specialise in public

health, so she took the DPH Cambridge in 1907. Then she became AssMO for the Education Committee

Coventry in 1908. By 1910 she was living in Sheffield and working as School Medical Inspector. In 1914 she

moved back to Manchester and became School Medical Inspector for the Lancashire County Council. She

was on active service with SWH in Serbia, Russia and Romania until the death of Dr Elsie Inglis in 1917. In

1918 she was Civil Surg for County Middlesex War Hospital. Wrote Diary in Serbia (1916). She was awarded

the Order of St Sava 5th class in 1921. After the War she returned to her School Medical Inspector position

at Lancashire County Council and had a practice in Burnley. She was involved with the Medical Women's

Federation. She also was a passionate rock climber (her brother was John Rooke Corbett, a famous

mountaineer). She was a founder member of the Pinnacle Club for women climbers in 1921. She may have

suffered from PTSD due to her experiences during the Great Retreat in Serbia. She climbed the Matterhorn

1930. She retired in 1950 and died in Bristol in 1960.

Public Health Public Health No No Unspecified Medical Women's

Federation

Mohr, "Dr Catherine Louisa Corbett M.B. Ch.B

D.P.H. (1877-1960), Diary in Serbia. Her Work

with the Scottish Women's Hospitals in Serbia and

Russia, 1915-1917." J Med Biogr (Jan 1 2018),

pp. 1-9.; Medical Directory 1921/1941

COURTAULD

Elizabeth

Dr Royaumont 13

Jan 1916 - 6 Mar

1919

1867 1947 Eng LSA London 1901

(LSMW)

MD 1903 Brussels, British Victory

and War medals 1921

She had taken some nursing training in Germany and worked at the Royal Free Hospital before studying

medicine at the LSMW, aged 28, where she met Dr Berry and Dr Ivens. In 1903 she graduated MD from the

University of Brussels. Became junior doctor at the New Hospital for Women and Ass Anaesthetist at the

Royal Free Hospital. She then went into general practice for a short time. On retrospect, she also considered

the War a happy time. She did missionary work before the War in Bangalore, specialising in midwifery and

anaesthetics. Apart from her service with the SWH, she worked in Bangalore until retirement in 1927. She

was vice-president of the Royaumont Association. She was primarily a physician, but at Royaumont she also

assisted Dr Ivens surgically and did anaesthetics. She retired to Halstead, Essex in 1927.

Missionary/Tropical

Medicine,

Anaesthesiology

Missionary/Tropical

Medicine,

Anaesthesiology


Registered Medical

Women

Angels of Mercy (Crofton, 2013); In the Service of


1921/1942; "Obituary: Dr Elizabeth Courtauld."

British Medical Journal , no. 4541 (1948), p. 129.

52


Qualification (MB

BS or similar)




t/Profess

or


society

Sources

CRANAGE Lucy

Margaret (Mrs

Costa)

Orderly Royaumont

21 Sep 1917 - 22

Jun 1918


Lond 1926

(LSMW)


1921, DTM 1928 Liverpool

She served as an orderly at Royaumont during the War. Afterwards she entered the LSMW and

subsequently qualified in medicine in 1926. She was ResMO at the Royal Victoria Hospital, Folkstone in

1928, just like Grace Summerhayes had been in 1926. It is possible that her old Royaumont colleague put in

a good word for her. Lucy took the DTM Liverpool in 1928 and left for Uganda in 1929. She married an

Italian named Vincenzo Costa in that same year, becoming Mrs Costa. In 1931 she worked in Kenya with the

Church Mission Society Hospital, Mareno. They moved to Italy in 1934, though she remained a registered

practitioner in Kenya until 1952. It is unclear whether she practiced in Italy, Africa or not at all. She died in

Italy in 1976.

N/A Missionary/Tropical

Medicine

No Mr Vincenzo

Costa, 1929

Unspecified Unspecified Angels of Mercy (Crofton, 2013); "The Medical

Practitioners and Dentists Ordinance." The Kenya

Gazette 54, no. 12 (1952), p. 221.; Medical

Directory "Miss Cranage" 1928 "Mrs Costa"

1931/1936/1941/1946/1952

DALYELL Elsie Jean Bacteriologist

Royaumont 2 May

1916 - 2 Oct 1916

1881 1948 Aus MB (honours)

1909 U of Sydney

ChM 1910 Sydney, Beit Memorial

Fellowship 1912, OBE 1919

She came from Newtown Sydney, Australia. She studied arts & science for a year before transferring to

medicine in 1906. She graduated MB in 1909 with 1st class honours and ChM in 1910. She was the first

female ResMO at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. In 1911-12 she was a demonstrator in pathology. She

was the first woman in 1912 to be elected for a Beit fellowship from the Lister Institute for Preventive

Medicine, London, to study gastroenteritis. At the outbreak of War she joined the Serbian Relief Fund,

where she worked as a bacteriologist and physician during the typhus epidemic in Skopje of 1915. She joined

the SWH in Royaumont in 1916 where she was head of the bacteriology department. She published on gas

gangrene in the BMJ . Later she served with the RAMC in Salonica and Malta. In 1919 she went to

Constantinople to work during the cholera epidemic. She was awarded OBE in 1919. From 1919-22 she did

an important study on rickets in Vienna with Dr Harriette Chick. She mublished many articles on dietary

deficiency in children. She returned to Australia in 1923 but struggled to find employment, her private

practice failed. In 1924 she was appointed Ass Microbiologist in the Department of Public Health, a position

she held until her retirement in 1946. From 1925-1935 she was on the committee of the Rachel Forster

Hospital for Women and Children, where she set up a VD clinic in 1927. During WW2 she organised the Red

Cross Blood Transfusion Service. She retired in 1946 and died in 1948 of heart disease. Her career was not

as good as it should have been, she was a very talented woman.

Pathology/Research Pathology/Research,

Public Health, VD

No No She organised the

Red Cross Blood

Transfusion Service

Unspecified Angels of Mercy (Crofton, 2013); "Obituary: Elsie

Jean Dalyell." The Lancet 253, no. 6540 (1949),

p.44.; Australian Dictionary of Biography;

Medical Directory 1921/1941

DAVIDSON Georgina

Elizabeth (Mrs

Brindley)

Dr Kraguievatz 1 Jul

1915 - 12 Feb 1916


Edinburgh


1921

Very little is known about her. She was born in Edinburgh and studied at the University of Edinburgh. She

served with the SWH in Serbia in 1915. In the Medical Directory she is listed with an Edinburgh address in

1920 and 1925. She reappears in 1930 as "Mrs Brindley" and subsequently is listed until 1942 in India,

without an address. She probably practiced as a GP in Edinburgh, until she married a Mr Brindley and left for

India as a missionary.


Medicine

No Mr Brindley ? Unspecified Medical Directory "Miss Davidson" 1920/1925

"Mrs Brindley" 1930/1935/1940/1942, Ancestry

DAVIS Mary Howard

(Mrs Newton-Davis)

Dr Royaumont 15

Oct 1918 - 10 Dec

1918

1963 MB BS 1911 U of

London


1921

Before the War she had been Ho Physician at the London Temperance Hospital, Sr ResMO at the Edinburgh

Hospital for Women & Children and Ass ResMO at the Stoke-on-Trent Fever Hospital. Then she became

AssMO at the VD clinic of the Leicester Royal Infirmary and MO at the Stoneygate Home Leicester, positions

she held until at least 1942.

Women & Children Social worker, Public

Health, VD

No Mr Newton Unspecified Unspecified Medical Directory 1921/1941

DE GARIS Mary

Clementina

CMO America Unit

27 Feb 1917 - 30

Sep 1918

1881 1963 Aus MB 1904, ChB

1905 U of

Melbourne

MD 1907 Melbourne, Order St

Sava 3rd class, British Victory and

War medals 1921

She studied at Ladies' Methodist College, Melbourne where she was dux in 1898. She matriculated at

Melbourne University in 1900. She was co-founder of the Victorian Women's Medical Students' Society. She

was the second woman MD in Victoria in 1907. Then she did a residency at Melbourne Hospital. Then she

practiced as the sole surgeon to the remote Muttaburra Hospital for 14 months from 1907. In 1908 she

followed postgraduate courses in Europe and the USA, returning to Melbourne in 1910. Then she was Ho

MO to Outpatients 1910-11, 1915-16 and 1919-22. She became Res Surg at Tibooburra Hospital, New South

Wales 1911-1915. She got engaged to farmer Colin Thomson in 1914, unfortunately he enlisted and died in

1916 in France. Meanwhile she worked in Manor Hospital, London. She joined the SWH soon after his death,

where she became CMO of the America Unit. She resigned on her mother's death. She was awarded the 3rd

class Order of St Sava, two medals from Britain but none from Australia. After the War she was a convinced

feminist and practiced with destinction as an obstetrician in Geelong. She worked at Geelong Hospital 1919-

1960 where she advocated women's rights and education. She remained the only female doctor until 1941.

She was appointed head of the new maternity ward in 1931. In 1941 she became Hon Consultant. She also

ran a private practice and worked with local infant welfare centres. She kept track of all her 2000+

deliveries. She published many articles in the Medical Journal of Australia , she also wrote several books on

obstetrics. She pioneered high protein diets for pregnant women. She practiced until the age of 79.

Women & Children

(surgeon)

Obstetrics &

Gynaecology,

Activist, Public

Health

Yes No Unspecified Victorian Women's

Medical Students'

Society

Lee, "De Garis, Mary Clementina." The

Encyclopedia of Women & Leadership in

Twentieth-Century Australia

http://www.womenaustralia.info/leaders/biogs/

WLE0014b.htm.; Neuhaus, "Australia's Female

Military Surgeons of World War I," ANZ Journal of

Surgery 83, no. 10 (2013), pp. 713-18.; In the

Service of Life (Leneman, 1994), Medical

Directory 1921/1941

DOBBIN Dorothy

Isobel

Dr Royaumont 2

May 1918 - 4 Nov

1918

1953 Irish MB BCh BAO 1917

QU Belfast


1921, MD 1923 Belfast, DPH 1923

Belfast

Presumably, she signed up for the SWH with fellow QU Belfast graduate Dr Adams. She worked as Ass

School MO at London County Council and as Clinical Ass at Elizabeth-Garrett Hospital 1922-1927. Then she

was appointed Ass School MO 1932-1942. She lived in Middlesex in 1952 and died in 1953.

N/A Public Health No No Unspecified Medical Women's

Federation

Medical Directory 1921/1931/1941; Irish Women

in Medicine (Kelly, 2012)

EDWARDS Constance

Maude (Mrs Hill)

Dr Royaumont 15

Oct 1918 - 30 Dec

1918

1892 1956 Eng MB ChB 1917 U of

Liverpool; MRCS

Eng & LRCP Lond

1917 (Liverpool)

DPH 1919, British Victory and

War medals 1921

She was born in Liverpool around 1892. After the War she worked temporarily as Ho Physician & Ho Surg at

the Liverpool Royal Infirmary. From 1920 she was appointed MO to the Women's Venereal department of

the Royal South Hospital & Infant Welfare Centre Liverpool. Sometime between 1925 and 1930 she

immigrated to Bloemfontein, South Africa. She started out as Welfare MO to the Bloemfontein Municipality

and she may have had a private practice. She married a Mr G.H. Hill between 1935-1940 and worked as

physician to the South African Railways & Harbours Children's Homes until at least 1942.

N/A Women & Children,

VD, Public Health,

Company doctor

No Mr G.H. Hill Unspecified Unspecified Medical Directory "Constance Maude Edwards"

even after marriage

1920/1921/1925/1930/1935/1940/1941/1942;

Ancestry

53


Qualification (MB

BS or similar)




t/Profess

or


society

Sources

EMSLIE Isobel

Galloway (Lady

Hutton)

Dr and Assistant

CMO America Unit

13 Aug 1918 - 1 Oct

1919 [Dates suspect

],

Bacteriologist/CMO

Girton Newnham

Unit Aug 1915 - 1

Oct 1919 (Still out

at time of list)

1887 1960 Scot MB ChB 1910 U of

Edinburgh

MD (honours) 1912 Edinburgh,

Order of the White Eagle, Order

St Sava, Croix de Guerre, Order St

Anna, Order St John Jerusalem,


1921, CBE 1948, Fellow Roy Soc

Med

She was born in Edinburgh and she studied at Edinburgh University, gaining hospital experience at the

Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. She wrote her MD thesis in 1912 on the Wasserman reaction, a test for syphilis

in the insane, which was undertaken during her first appointment as pathologist to the Stirling District

Asylum. She then worked at the Royal Sick Children's Hospital and was subsequently appoined first female

physician-in-charge at women's department of the Royal Mental Hospital. She published an article on the

War and Psychiatry in 1915. She served with the SWH in France, Serbia and Salonica. She was awarded the

Serbian Orders of the White Eagle and St Sava, the French Croix de Guerre, and the Order of St Anna of

Russia. She took over Lady Muriel Paget's mission in the Crimea when the Serbian hospital closed. Later she

cared for Russian orphans in Constantinople. There she met Maj. Hutton, whom she married in 1921. She

returned to her post in Edinburgh in 1920 but resigned upon marriage. On moving to London she obtained a

temporary research position at the Maudsley Hospital and published on adrenal anomalies in psychiatric

patients. She went on an anti-malarial mission to Albania in 1925. She advocated the practice of medical

women after marriage in a letter in the Times in 1928. She took up responsibility of the Ellen Terry Home for

Handicapped Children until she left for India in 1938. There she worked in charity initially, but worked for

the Indian Red Cross Welfare Service during WW2. They returned to Britain in 1946, she was awarded CBE

in 1948. She became Senior Consultant Psychiatrist at the British Hospital for Functional Nervous Disorders

until retirement, then she became a consultant emeritus. She was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of

Medicine and member of the Medico-Psychological Association. She wrote several books; The Hygiene of

Marriage (1923), With a Woman's Unit in Serbia, Salonika and Sebastopol (1928), Mental Disorders in

Modern Life (1940). She revisited Serbia in 1956 to see the hospital built with SWH funds. There were many

female doctors but they were unaware of its history. Published 'Medical Tour of Jugoslavia' in the Journal of

the Medical Women's Federation, author Women's Change of Life (1958) and Memories of a Doctor in War

and Peace (1960).

Psychiatry,

Pathology/Research,

Women & Children

Psychiatry,

Pathology/Research,

Missionary/Tropical

Medicine, Author

Yes Maj. Hutton,

1921

Indian Red Cross

Welfare Service

Medical Women's

Federation

In the Service of Life (Leneman, 1994); Oxford

Dictionary of National Biography; "Obituary:

Isabel Emslie Hutton." The Lancet 275, no. 7117

(1960), pp. 231-32.; "Obituary: Lady Hutton,

C.B.E., M.D." British Medical Journal , no. 5169


1921/1941; Emslie-Hutton, "Women Medical

Students," The Times , 26 March 1928, p. 12.

EPPYNT-PHILLIPS

Mary Elizabeth

Dr Calais

Contingent 1 Nov

1914 - 1 Apr 1915;

Dr Valjevo 1 Apr

1915 - 1 Sep 1915;

Dr Ajaccio, Corsica

1 May 1916 - 4 Jun

1917

1875 1956 Welsh MB 1900 U of

London

Order St Sava, Serbian War

medal, Serbian Red Cross Medal,


1921

She was the first woman doctor from Cardiff University (1894-1898), though she graduated from the

LSMW/Royal Free Hospital London in 1900. After graduating she worked as 2nd AssMO Central London Sick

Asylum Hendon. She held the position of Hon MO at the Leeds Maternity Hospital 1905-1914, where she

joined the Leeds Women's Suffrage Society. She was also a medical examiner for Leeds University and

Medical Inspector of the Leeds Education Committee. She worked with the SWH in Calais, Serbia and

Corsica. Later she worked for the RAMC at the Endell St Hospital London in 1918, she worked for the

Ministry of Munitions 1918-1919. She recieved the Order of St Sava for her service in Serbia. After the War

she worked in maternity hospitals, infant welfare centres and public health; i.e. Ho MO Leeds Maternity

Hospital, Leeds Babies Welcome, lecturer in midwifery at Leeds University, lecturer on mothercraft at the

Yorkshire School of Domestic Science. She was appointed Deputy MOH for the Merthyr Tydvil Borough

Council infant welfare, where she started a successful scheme for training Serbian nurses. She moved to

London in 1933 and retired in 1938. Author How to Keep Healthy and an article on an outbreak of

poliomyelitis in 1924.

Women & Children,

Public Health

Women & Children,

Public Health,

Lecturer

No No Unspecified Leeds Women's

Suffrage Society,

Medical Women's

Federation

"Career History and Testimonials of Dr Mary

Eppynt Phillips of Merthyr Cynog." People's

Collection Wales,

https://www.peoplescollection.wales/items/4282

22. ; Medical Directory "Miss Phillips" 1905/1910

"Miss Eppynt-Phillips" 1925/1930/1935/1942; In

the Service of Life (Leneman, 1994); Ancestry

ESTCOURT-OSWALD

Agnes

Dr Royaumont 22

Nov 1915 - 1 May

1916 and 30 Sep

1916 - 30 Oct 1916

1874 1965 Eng MB 1903 U of

London

DPH 1911 Cambridge, British War

and Victory medals 1921, Fellow

Soc MOH, DOMS 1925, Victoria

Medal 1960

She was born in British India but grew up in York. In 1911 she was School Medical Inspector in Colchester

and in 1912 she was listed as Clin Ass Ophthalmology & Dermatology department Evelina Haverfeld Hospital

for Children. During the War, she served in Royaumont and was MO to the Colchester Military Hospital and

British Red Cross VAD Hospital. She was awarded the British War & Victory medals in 1922. In 1919 she had

started her own opthalmic practice, and she took the DOMS in 1925. She was active in the local division of

the BMA. Furthermore, she was active in the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty Against Animals. In

1933 she was president of the Colchester Medical Society. In 1939 she published in the BMJ about the

treatment of gas injuries to the eye. She became a consultant ophthalmologist in Colchester and sat on the

army's recruiting board during WW2. In 1956 she critisised the BMJ for inappropriately addressing women

doctors. In 1960 she was awarded the Victoria Medal.

Ophthalmology,

Women & Children,

Public Health

Ophthalmology

(surgeon)

Yes No Ophthalmologist

recruiting board

Association of

Registered Medical

Women, Medical

Women's Federation

Estcourt-Oswald, "Gas Injuries to the Eye." British


"Obituary Notices: Agnes Estcourt-Oswald,"

British Medical Journal , no. 5438 (1965), p. 869.;

https://militaryhospitalcolchester1918.wordpress

.com/home/1st-row-1918-colchester-military-

hospital/, Medical Directory 1921/1942

FAIRLIE Margaret Orderly Royaumont

1 Dec 1914 - 1 Mar

1915

1891 1963 Scot MB ChB 1915 U of

St Andrews


1921, FRCOG 1936, Fellow Roy

Soc Med, FRCSE 1955, LLD 1957

St Andrews

She served as an orderly at Royaumont in the winter of 1914-15, shortly before graduating in 1915. She

held several hospital positions 1915-1919, then started private practice in Dundee 1920. There she started

her life-long academic career, starting out as Ass to the Professor of Midwifery and later becoming the first

and only female professor in Scotland 1940-56. She was Professor of Obstetrics & Gynaecology at the

University of St Andrews (Dundee) and simultaneously she was a consultant physician to several local

hospitals. She was a founding member of the Women’s Visiting Gynaecological Club.

N/A Obstetrics &

Gynaecology

Yes No Unspecified Women’s Visiting

Gynaecological Club

"Obituary: Margaret Fairlie," The Lancet 282, no.

7300 (1963), pp. 206-07.; "Pioneers: Margaret

Fairlie, F.R.C.O.G. (1891-1963)," RCOG Heritage

Blog,

https://rcogheritage.wordpress.com/2017/03/08/

pioneers-margaret-fairlie/ ; Medical Directory

1921/1926/1930/1942FERGUSON Mary

Michelina Grant

(Mrs Hooper)

Dr Ajaccio, Corsica

4 Sep 1917 - 9 Nov

1918; Dr America

Unit 13 Feb 1919 -

1 Sep 1919


St Andrews

She was probably Scottish, she studied at the University of St Andrews and shortly afterwards served with

the SWH in Corsica and the Balkans. She is listed in the Medical Directory until 1925 with a London address,

then she disappears and reappears in 1940 as Mrs Hooper, with an Edinburgh address. She probably had a

general practice.

N/A GP? No Mr Hooper Unspecified Unspecified Medical Directory "Miss Ferguson" 1920/1925

"Mrs Hooper" 1940/1942; Ancestry

GORDON Jean Paton Dr Girton

Newnham Unit 31

May 1915 - 1 Oct

1915

1884 1937 Scot MB ChB 1904 U of

Edinburgh

DTM 1904 Edinburgh, British


She was born in Montrose, Scotland in 1884. She graduated before she was 21. That same year she took the

Certificate in Diseases of Tropical Climates (DTM). She worked at the City Asylum/Mental Hospital

Birmingham 1910-1915. At the beginning of 1915 she joined the Girton and Newnham Unit in Troyes and in

1916 she served on the staff of the Edinburgh War Hospital in Leith; in 1917 she was attached to the RAMC

with the Egyptian Expeditionary Forces in hospitals in Alexandria and Cairo. She returned to England in 1919

and for the next four years was on the medical staff of the Derbyshire County Council; in 1923 she joined

the Union Mental hospital Service and was stationed at Bloemfontein, SA. Later she was transferred to

Grahamstown and then to the Valkenberg Mental Hospital. Upon retiring in 1934 she opened a private

home for nervous cases at the Cape. Member of the Alexandra Club, Cape Town.

Psychiatry Psychiatry, Public

Health

No No N/A Unspecified Medical Directory 1905/1915/1921/1930/1935;

Ancestry;

http://www.ancestors.co.za/database/member/w

omansa1935-view.php?q=1936

54


Qualification (MB

BS or similar)




t/Profess

or


society

Sources

GORDON Mary

Louisa

Dr America Unit 3

Aug 1916 - 1 Dec

1916


Edinburgh & LFPS

Glasgow 1890

(LSMW)

LM 1890, British Victory and War

medals 1921

She studied at the LSMW, taking the Scottish triple qualification in 1890 and taking the LM. In 1893–1895

she was Librarian at LSMW and Clin Ass at the East London Hospital for Children. She was appointed first

woman prison inspector ever in 1908, specifially for female prisoners; for the English & Welsh Prison

Commission. As such, she was responsible for 40 local women's prisons. Since she didn't have an office she

had to operate from her Harley St Clinic. She symphatised deeply with the suffrage movement. She

supported the WSPU and was involved when suffragettes were imprisoned before the war. She held her

position until retirement in 1921. She only went on leave temporarily to serve with the SWH in Serbia. She

was met with distrust by men during her time as a prison inspector. She published several books; novels and

Penal Discipline (1922) on women's prisons. She was involved with the VD committee of the Medical

Women's Federation.

Prison Inspector Prison Inspector,

Author

No No Unspecified WSPU, Medical

Women's Federation

Cheney, "Dr Mary Louisa Gordon (1861–1941): A

Feminist Approach in Prison," Feminist Legal

Studies 18, no. 2 (2010): 115-36.; Oxford

Dictionary of National Biography; Medical

Directory 1921

GRANT Jessie Napier

Robertson (née

Robertson)

Dr Royaumont 4

Jun 1918 - 29 Sep

1918

1895 1981 Scot MB ChB 1917 U of

Glasgow


1921

She worked temporarily as Ho Surg at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary and as AssMO to the H.M. Factory,

Queensferry. After the War she had a family practice with her husband Dr George Osmond Grant in Carlisle

until at least 1955. Their son also studied medicine and joined the practice.

N/A GP No Dr George

Osmond

Grant

Unspecified Unspecified Grant, "The Life Story of Dr. Ronald Grant M.A.

M.D. F.R.C.G.P."

http://www.simongrant.org/father/lifestory.html

; Medical Directory "Mrs G.O. Grant"

1921/1930/1945/1955, AncestryGREIG Eliza "Lila"

Stephenson

Dr Girton

Newnham Unit 3

Mar 1918 - 1 Dec

1918

1876 1937 Scot MB ChB 1900 U of

Glasgow

LM 1900 Dublin, DPH 1903

Cambridge, Fellow Soc MOH


medals 1921

She took the DPH Cambridge in 1903. In 1905 she worked as ResMO in Dublin. She was appointed Inspector

of Midwives to the London County Council. Then she took up position as Ass Medical School Inspector and

Tuberculosis Officer in Staffordshire in 1908. She was an active member of the BMA, Staffordshire branch.

She was appointed the first Maternity & Child Welfare MO ("Lady MO") for Northamptonshire 1919, a

position she held until 2 months before her death. As such she was largely responsible for the formation of

welfare centres in the county. She was a Fellow of the Society for Medical Offices of Health from 1920. She

also was a member of the Maternity and Child Welfare Group, of which Dr A.L. McIlroy was vice-president.

Public Health Public Health No No N/A Unspecified Medical Directory "Lila Stephenson Greig"

1905/1910/1920/1935; "Obituary: Lila

Stephenson Greig," Public Health 51 (1937), p. 8.

GUEST Edith Mary Dr Royaumont 1 Jul

1918 - 1 Aug 1918

1874 1942 Eng MB BS 1908 U of

London

MD 1914 London, MA 1928

Oxford, Fellow Royal

Anthropological Institution

She had been Jr Ho Surg to the New Hospital For Women in London, Ho Physician to the Belgrave Hospital

for Children and School MO under the Elementary School Teachers (Superannuation) Act. She served as

attachée to the RAMC in Malta and Salonica. She served only temporarily at Royaumont in 1918. In 1925

she was AssMO to the LCC. She continued to work in various Women's and Children's hospitals until

retirement. She was interested in history, and member of the Folklore Society, Fellow of the Royal

Anthropology Institution and member of the Cambrian Archeological Association.

Women & Children,

Public Health

Women & Children,

Public Health


Registered Medical

Women, Medical

Women's Federation

Angels of Mercy (Crofton, 2013); "Lady Doctors

of the Malta Garrison: Guest Edith Mary." Malta

RAMC,

http://maltaramc.com/ladydoc/g/guestem.html ;

Medical Directory 1910/1920/1925/1935/1942,

Ancestry

GUEST Edna Mary CMO Ajaccio,

Corsica 31 Oct 1917

- 9 Jun 1918

1883 1958 Can MB 1910 U of

Toronto; MCP & S

Ontario 1911

MCP&S Ont 1911, British Victory

and War medals 1921, MD 1928

Toronto, Diploma in Surgery 1932

Vienna, OBE 1932

She was a Canadian from London, Ontario. She had graduated from the University of Toronto in 1910 and

did postgrad studies at Harvard and the Women's & Children Hospital Boston. She joined the Canadian

Missionary Women and was sent to the Women's Medical College in Ludhiana, India where she worked as

Professor in Anatomy and Ass Professor Surgery 1912-1915. She served as Captain-Surgeon attached to the

RAMC at the Northamptonshire War Hospital 1915-17. She was appointed CMO of the SWH unit in Corsia

1917-18. She served at a French army hospital 1918-19. After the War she returned to Canada and set up a

private practice in Toronto in 1919, focussing on VD. She was appointed head of VD department of the

Women's College Hospital (WCH). She studied women's diseases at the LSMW and took a diploma in surgery

in Vienna. She was appointed Surgeon i/c at the WCH in 1935. She set up a Cancer Detection Clinic,

Obstetrical & Gynaecological department and Bacteriology & VD department at the WCH. In 1940-41 she

was president of the Federation of Medical Women of Canada. Author "History of Women in Medicine"

Journal Canadian Medical Association (1930), chapter "Medicine as a Calling for Women," Trails to Success

(1931)

Women & Children,

Missionary/Tropical

Medicine, Lecturer

Obstetrics &

Gynaecology

(surgeon), VD

Yes No Unspecified Federation of

Medical Women of

Canada

In the Service of Life (Leneman, 1994); Bhimji and

Sheinin, "Dr. Edna Mary Guest: She Promoted

Women's Issues before It Was Fashionable."

CMAJ 141, no. 10 (1989), pp. 1093-4.; Medical

Directory 1925/1930/1942

HAMILTON Jean

Lawrie (Mrs Barr)

Dr Royaumont 9

Apr 1918 - 1 Oct

1918

1893 1967 Scot MB ChB 1916 U of

Glasgow


1921

From the War until 1940 she is listed in the Medical Directory with just a Glasgow address. She probably had

a private practice, because from 1940-1960 she was an anaesthetist at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children

Glasgow, so she probably had her own practice in the inter-War period.

N/A GP, Anaesthesiology No Mr Frank

Barr, 1921

Unspecified Unspecified Medical Directory "Miss Hamilton" 1920 "Mrs

Barr" 1925/1935/1942/1950/1960; Ancestry

HANCOCK Mary

Deborah (Mrs

Barfett)

Dr Royaumont 1

Dec 1914 - 1 Nov

1915


Edinburgh & LFPS

1906 Glasgow

(Edinburgh)

MA 1906 Dublin, British Victory

and War medals 1921

She was born in Surrey in 1877. She got appointed School Medical Inspector in Gloucestershire in 1910. She

used to be ResMO at The Hospice, Edinburgh therefore she must have known Dr Elsie Inglis well. She

became physician at Royaumont. After the War she was Ho Surg at Clapham Maternity Hospital. Then she

married a Mr Barfett in Cornwall, it is unclear whether she ever practiced again. She remains listed on the

Medical Directory.

Women & Children,

Public Health

GP? No Rev. J.C.F.

Barfett, 1916

Unspecified Unspecified Angels of Mercy (Crofton, 2013); Medical

Directory "Miss Hancock" 1910/1915 "Mrs

Barfett" 1921/1930/1942

HAWTHORNE Jane

(née Lorimer)

Dr Royaumont 1

May 1915 - 1 Nov

1915

1874 1945 Scot MB ChB 1898 U of

Glasgow


1921

Early on in her career she held several positions in women's and children's hospitals. Later she became a

gynaecologist with a private practice Harley Street. She was an active propagator of breaking taboos around

VD, prevention and sexual education. She was a member of the Society for the Prevention of VD, and vice-

chairman Women's Committee; and a member of the Society for Constructive Birth Control and Racial

Progress. She lectured on "Constructive Birth Control" in 1921 for 2000 people in Queen's Hall, London. She

had eugenist ideas and was involved with Marie Stopes' sexual revolution & birth control movement. She

was involved with Stopes' Mother's Clinic. She also worked at East Islington Mothers' and Babies' Welfare

centre and was MO to St Pancras. She was a lecturer for the Alliance of Honour and the British Social

Hygiene Council and the British Red Cross Society and a lecturer/examiner for the LCC.

Gynaecology,

Women & Children

(surgeon)

Gynaecology, Public

Health, Lecturer,

Activist, VD

Yes Dr Charles

Oliver

Hawthorne,

1900

Unspecified Unspecified (but

actively involved in

the women's

movement!)

"Obituary: Dr Jane Lorimer Hawthorne." British



55


Qualification (MB

BS or similar)




t/Profess

or


society

Sources

HENRY Lydia "Leila"

Manley Stewart

Dr Royaumont 24

Jul 1917 - 22 Mar

1919

1891 1985 Scot MB ChB 1916 U of

Sheffield

MD 1920 Sheffield, Croix de

Guerre 1918, British Victory and

War medals 1921, Fellow Royal

Society, DSc 1978 Sheffield

She was born in Macduff, Scotland but moved to Sheffield when she was 14. She was the first female

medical graduate of Sheffield University in 1916. She missed a year of university because of a skin infection

after dissection. Because of wartime conditions, she got a lot of surgical experience as a resident at a

women's VD clinic, at the Sheffield Royal Infirmary and Sheffield Royal Hospital (due to zeppelin raids,

accidents among local munition workers, absence of male doctors). After her 1-year residency she applied

for the SWH but was initially declined because of her age (26). She travelled to Edinburgh to convince the

committee. She served with SWH at Royaumont, for which she was awarded the Croix de Guerre 1918.

After the War she wrote her MD thesis on gas gangrene (1920) and subsequently became the first female

MD from the University of Sheffield. She then worked in public health and became AssMO in Blackburn. In

1923 she was invited to become head of Social Services department at King's College for Women, London.

There she became lecturer and member of senate. In 1925 she emigrated to Canada where she got married

to a Mr Stewart. This ended her promising career. The Medical Directory 1930 lists an Montreal address,

whereas in 1936 she is listed as retired, suggesting that she had a private practice in Canada. In 1978 she

was awarded an honorary DSc from the University of Sheffield. She raised money for the SWH canteen in

France during WW2. Author of several public health publications.

N/A Public Health,

Lecturer, GP?

No Mr J.

Stewart,

1925 Canada

Fundraising for SWH

canteen in France

Medical Women's

Federation

Angels of Mercy (Crofton, 2013), Medical

Directory 1920/1925/1930/1935/1942; "Lydia

Henry Documents." University of Sheffield Library,

https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/library/special/henry

HEYWORTH Florence

Winifred (Mrs Hind)

Dr Royaumont 1

Dec 1914 - 1 Jun

1915

1885 Eng LRCP, LRCS

Edinburgh & LRFPS

Glasgow 1914

(Edinburgh)


1921

She was born in Liverpool in 1885. She went to China as a missionary with the English Presbyterian Mission.

There she met John Hind, they married in 1928. May have ceased practice upon marriage (?). In 1930 she is

listed with a Liverpool address. Until 1942 she is listed in Foochow, South China.


Medicine

No Mr John

Hind, 1928

China

? Unspecified "Florence Winifred Heyworth" Ancestry; Medical

Directory 1920/1925/1930 "Mrs Hind"

1935/1940/1942

HODSON Eleanor Dr Royaumont 1 Jul

1916 - 22 Jul 1917

1870 1936 Eng MB ChB 1900 U of

Edinburgh

Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur,

Medaille d’Honneur des

Épidémies, British Victory and

War medals 1921

She was born in Mickleover, Derbyshire. After graduation she worked as a Ho Surg to the National Eye

Hospital, Dublin. Then she practiced for a while as an eye specialist in Calcutta. On return to England she

practiced as an ophtalmologist in various places. At the outbreak of War she offered her services to the

RAMC, when they declined she went to serve with the French Red Cross. She had been in charge of French

Red Cross hospitals previously and was able to come over when more doctors were urgently needed at

Royaumont in 1916. She was awarded the Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur & Medaille d’Honneur. Towards

the end of the War she served as anaesthetist/reception officer in Military Hospital no. 1, Canterbury. She

continued to be involved in social work in France after the war. She was a philantropist. She retired in 1922.

Ophthalmology

(surgeon),

Anaesthesiology

Ceased practice No No N/A Unspecified "Obituary: Eleanor Hodson." The Lancet 227, no.

5874 (1936), pp. 746-47.; Angels of Mercy

(Crofton, 2013); Medical Directory "Eleanor

Hodson" 1905/1920/1921/1925/1935

HOLLWAY Edith

Blake

Dr Kraguievatz 1

Dec 1914 - 1 Mar

1916; Dr Ajaccio,

Corsica 20 Apr 1916

- ? Aug 1916

1874 1948 Eng MB BS 1906 U of

London

OBE 1919, British Victory and War

medals 1921

In 1912 she was working as Sr ResMO at the Medical Mission Hospital in Plaistow. At the outbreak of War

she worked at the London Temperance Hospital. She served with the SWH in Serbia and later on Corsica.

Then she accepted a post as Civil Surgeon attached to the RAMC in 1916, she then served in the RAMC

Women's Unit on Malta. She held various other posts within the RAMC. She was awarded the OBE 1919.

She continueed to serve with the RAMC in Salonica until 1921. Then she Left for India and worked for the

Women's Medical Service in India as 1st Physician to Cama Hospital, Bombay 1925-1945 (at least).

Missionary/Tropical

Medicine

Missionary/Tropical

Medicine

No No Unspecified Unspecified "Lady Doctors of the Malta Garrison: Hollway

Edith Blake," Malta RAMC,

https://www.maltaramc.com/ladydoc/h/hollwaye

b.html ; Medical Directory

1910/1920/1921/1925/1930/1940/1945

HOPE Laura

Margaret (née

Fowler)

Dr Kraguievatz 12

Sep 1915 - 12 Feb

1916

1868 1952 Scot MB ChB 1891 U of

Adelaide

DTM 1902, Elder Prize, Samaritan

Cross 1918, British Victory and

War medals 1921, Kaisar-i-Hind

Gold Medal 1933

She was born in Adelaide to Scottish parents. She was privately educated, partly in England when her

brother studied at Cambridge. She was the first woman medical graduate of Adelaide University and was

awarded the Elder Prize. After graduation she became Ho Surg/ResMO to Adelaide Children's Hospital for 1

year, then she applied for membership of the BMA which subsequently opened its doors to women. She

married Dr Charles Hope in 1893 and they both sailed to India for missionary work. They travelled to

Europe/Australia in the summers, on one such a holiday they both studied at Liverpool School of Tropical

Medicine and took the DTM in 1902. During many years in India they worked in different places and with

different missions. In England 1915 they BOTH joined the SWH and served in Serbia. They were taken

prisoner and after repatriation returned to India. She was awarded the Serbian Samaritan Cross in 1918 and

Kaisar-i-Hing medal in 1933. After retirement in 1934 they went back to Adelaide. She knitted for soldiers

during WW2.

Missionary/Tropical

Medicine

Missionary/Tropical

Medicine

No Dr Charles

Henry Hope,

1893

Unspecified Unspecified Australian Dictionary of National Biography;

Medical Directory 1900/1910/1920/1930/1942

HUTCHISON Alice

Marion

Dr Calais

Contingent 1 Nov

1914 - 1 Apr 1915;

Dr Valjevo 1 Apr 15 -

12 Feb 1916; Dr

Girton Newnham

Unit 1 Sep 1916 - 1

Dec 1916

(Temporary)

1874 1953 Scot MB ChB 1899 U of

Edinburgh

MD 1905 Edinburgh, Order St

Sava, Belgian Order of the Palm

Leaf, British Victory and War

medals 1921, MRCP Lond 1921

(Edinburgh), Fellow Roy Soc Med

She was born in British India to Scottish missionary parents. Shortly after graduation she went back to India,

to the Dow Memorial Hospital in Gujrat, Punjab during a cholera epidemic. Then she held various posts in

Edinburgh: ResMO at the Hospice, MO George Watson's Ladies College, physician Edinburgh Hospital for

Women and Children, physician i/c at St John Street Dispensary, Canongate. She served with a women's unit

in the Balkan wars 1912-13. She led the first SWH unit in Calais. Later she served in Malta, Valjevo and

Corsica. She served with the RAMC 1917-1920. After the War she worked in several London hospitals: Ass

Physician at the South London Hospital for Women, Sr Clin Ass Hospital for Sick Children Great Ormond St,

physician children's department Tavistock Clinic. She also was MO at infant welfare clinics in Bermondsey

and Peckham. She was appointed psychotherapist in 1939. She specialised in children's psychology and

lectured and wrote books on the subject (The child and his problems, Motives of conduct in children).

Involved with the Medical Women's Federation.

Women & Children,

Missionary/Tropical

Medicine

Paediatrics,

Psychiatry, Author

No No Unspecified Medical Women's

Federation

"Obituary: Alice M. Hutchison." British Medical

Journal , no. 4844 (1953), p. 1052.; In the Service

of Life (Leneman, 1994); Medical Directory

1900/1921/1925/1942

INGLIS Florence Elsie Dr Royaumont 4

Sep 1917 - 1 Apr

1918

1887 1960 Scot MB ChB 1914 U of

Edinburgh


1921

She was a cousin of Elsie Inglis', and she worked at Royaumont during the War. She published in the BMJ

about VD and contraception 1920 and 1921. At one point she was ResMO at the Dundee Royal Infirmary

and Ho Surg at the North Staffordshire Infirmary. She probably ceased practice around 1920. Maybe she

had a private practice?

N/A GP? No No Unspecified Unspecified Medical Directory

1915/1920/1925/1930/1935/1942

56


Qualification (MB

BS or similar)




t/Profess

or


society

Sources

IVENS Mary Hannah

Frances (Mrs Ivens-

Knowles)

CMO Royaumont 1

Dec 1914 - 22 Mar

1919

1870 1944 Eng MB 1900, BS

(honours) 1902 U

of London

MS 1903 London, Croix de Guerre

avec Palme, Médaille d’Honneur

des Epidémies, Chevalier de la

Légion d’Honneur, British Victory

and War medals 1921, ChM 1926

Liverpool, CBE 1929, Fellow Roy

Soc Med, FRCOG 1929

She had excelled in French at school. She studied at the LSMW, and later took postgraduate studies Dublin

and Vienna. She was one of the first women to get the MS in 1903. Early in her career, she worked at the

Royal Free Hospital in London, the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital, and the Canning Town Mission

Hospital for Women in East London. In 1907 she was appointed Hon Surgeon to the Stanley Hospital,

Liverpool. She was a well-known suffragist; she was Chairman of the Liverpool branch of the Conservative

and Unionist Women's Suffrage Society. She immediately offered her services at the outbreak of war. She

had studied War injuries before she left for France, because she was after all a gynaecological surgeon. She

published on gas gangrene during the War. After the War she returned to her consultant position in

Liverpool and became a lecturer at Liverpool University. She was the first president of the Liverpool

Association of Qualified Medical Women and founded the North of England Medical Women's Society. She

was at the forefront of the fight for medical women. Liverpool University awarded her an honorary ChM in

1926. She was the first woman to be elected president Liverpool Medical Institution in 1929. She was a

founding member of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and got elected FRCOG in 1929.

She was president of the Medical Women's Federation 1924-1926. She published a book on caesarean

section in 1931 and she published many articles, among those several on gas gangrene and women doctors.

She married a barrister, C.M. Knowles aged 59 and became Ivens-Knowles. Retired to Cornwall. Was MO of

Red Cross and chairman of Cornwall Committee of the Friends of the Fighting French at the outbreak of

WW2. Was the first president of the Royaumont Association.

Obstetrics &

Gynaecology

(surgeon)

Obstetrics &

Gynaecology

(surgeon)

Yes Mr C.M.

Knowles,

1930

MO of the Red Cross

and chairman of

Cornwall Committee

of the Friends of the

Fighting French

Conservative and

Unionist Women's

Suffrage Society,

Liverpool

Association of

Qualified Medical

Women, North of

England Medical

Women's Society,

Medical Women's

Federation

"Obituary: Frances Ivens Knowles," British


"Obituary: Frances Ivens Knowles." The Lancet

243, no. 6287 (1944), p. 296.; "Pioneers: Frances

Ivens (1870-1944) F.R.C.O.G. 1929," Royal College

of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists Heritage Blog


pioneers-frances-ivens-1870-1944-frcog-1929/ ;

Weiner, "Frances Ivens (1870-1944): The First

Woman Consultant in Liverpool." Bulletin of the

Liverpool Medical History Society 26 (2015), pp.

61-75.; Angels of Mercy (Crofton, 2013); In the

Service of Life (Leneman, 1994); Ivens'

publications in the BMJ; Medical Directory

1921/1930/1942

JACKSON Sophia

Bangham (Mrs

Jackson-Smith)

Dr Ajaccio, Corsica

30 Sep 1916 - 25

Mar 1917

1877 1952 Eng MB BS 1904 U of

Durham

MD 1906 Durham, DPH 1910

Durham, Drapers' Company

Scholar Cardiff, Order St Sava

She enjoyed a life-time career in public health. She was a lecturer/examiner for LCC, Red Cross and St Johns

Ambulance Service. She was MOH for Mansfield. She worked with women and children at infant welfare

centres and as Lady MO in maternity & child welfare.

Women & Children,

Public Health,

Lecturer

Women & Children,

Public Health,

Lecturer

No Mr Frederick

Benjamin

Smith, 1920

Unspecified Unspecified Ancestry; Medical Directory "Miss Jackson" 1920

"Mrs Jackson-Smith" 1930/1942

JONES Helena

Gertrude

Dr Ajaccio, Corsica

16 Feb 1916 - ?

May 1916

1870 1946 Welsh MB BS 1901 U of

London

DPH 1905 Cambridge She had a career in public health, she had started out as School Medical Inspector and Jr AssMO at the

Union Infirmary East Greenwich. She was AssMOH for Rhondda from 1920 until retirement.

Public Health Public Health No No Unspecified Unspecified Ancestry; Medical Directory

1920/1930/1940/1942

JOYCE Margaret Dr Royaumont Aug

1915 (Temporary)

1873 1966 Eng MB BS 1898 U of

Durham


1921

From came from Leicestershire, England. She took the preliminary examination of the London Society of

Apothecaries in 1892. She then enrolled at the LSMW and the University of Newcastle, but graduated from

Durham University. She had several positions in women's and children's hospitals in her early career. Then

she became Hon Phys Liverpool Babies' Hospital Woolton from around 1924 until retirement in 1941.

Women & Children Women & Children No No Unspecified Unspecified Angels of Mercy (Crofton, 2013); Ancestry;

Medical Directory 1935/1940/1942

KEER Honoria

Somerville

Dr Girton

Newnham Unit 8

May 1915 - 21 Jan

1918; CMO Ajaccio,

Corsica 8 May 1918

- 15 Jun 1919

1883 1969 Can MB ChB 1910 U of

Glasgow

Croix de Guerre, Order St Sava,

Medaille d'Honneur des

Épidémies, British Victory and

War medals 1921, DTM 1924

London

She was born in Toronto, but studied in Glasgow 1903-1910. Initially she worked as a ResMO to the Govan

Elder Hospital 1911 and as a Ho Surg to the Glasgow Royal Samaritan Hospital for Women. She served with

the SWH in Troyes, Salonica and Corsica, for which she was awarded the Croix de Guerre, Order St Sava and

the Medaille d'honeur. She practiced in Lanark for a while after the War. Then she took the DTM in 1924

from the London School of Tropical Medicine, then she was appointed Lady MO at the African Hospital and

Massey Street Dispensary in Lagos, Nigeria 1925-1934. She had to retire due to progressive deafness and

returned to Britain. During WW2 she was a participant of the Women's Voluntary Service for Civil Defence.

She spent the remainder of her life in London.

Women & Children

(surgeon)

Missionary/Tropical

Medicine

No No Women's Voluntary

Service for Civil

Defence

Unspecified Surgeon Honoria Somerville Keer'


biography/?id=78 ; "Obituary Notices: Honoria S.

Keer," British Medical Journal , no. 5651 (1969), p.

255.; In the Service of Life (Leneman, 1994); First

Ladies of Medicine (Alexander, 1987); Medical

Directory 1920/1925/1930/1942

LAIRD Janet Stewart

(Mrs Hartley)

Dr Kraguievatz 1

Mar 1915 - 1 Nov

1915; Dr London

Unit 1 Dec 1916 - 1

Sep 1917

1890 1935 Scot MB ChB 1912 U of

Edinburgh

FRCSE (?), Order St Sava 5th class,


1921

She was the second woman to gain FRCS Edinburgh with gold medal [year unknown, not listed in Medical

Directory]. She was awarded 5th Order of St Sava for her work in Serbia. From 1913 she is registered with

an Edinburgh address, but no position is listed. In 1920 she married Dr Harold Hartley, a surgeon, moved to

England and ceased practice.

? Ceased practice Dr Harold

Hartley

N/A Unspecified https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/biogs/E001029b.h

tm ; "Mrs Hartley" Medical Directory

1920/1925/1930/1935; Ancestry

LATARCHE Kate (Mrs

Ramsden)

Dentist Girton

Newnham Unit 10

May 1918 - 24 Apr

1919

1888 1969 Eng BDS 1912 VU

Manchester; LDS

RCS Eng 1912

Cottril Prize in Prosthetic

Dentistry 1909, British Victory

and War medals 1921

She was born in Liverpool in 1880. She graduated BDS LDS in 1912. She was one of the first women to

obtain the dental diploma of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. She also was the first woman

demonstrator in operative dental surgery. She was a member of the British Dental Association and had been

Jr Ho Surg at the Dental Hospital Manchester. After the War she had a dental practice in Manchester. She

married Mr Arthur Ramsden in 1921.

Dentistry Dentistry No Mr Arthur

Ramsden,

1921

Unspecified Unspecified Parry and Morrison, "Kate Latarche: Dentist with

the Scottish Women's Hospital During the First

World War," Dental History Magazine 11, no. 2

(2017), pp. 13-15.; Medical Directory 1920;

Dental Register 1942

LILLIE Helen (Mrs

Garrett)

Dr America Unit 15

May 1917 - 28 Nov

1917; Dr

Royaumont 27 Feb

1918 - 11 Dec 1918

1890 1977 Scot MB ChB 1914 U of

Aberdeen

MA 1910, MD 1920 Aberdeen,

DTM 1920 London, British Victory

and War medals 1921

She was born on Orkney in 1890. She graduated in 1914 from the University of Aberdeen, then she did a

residency at Sheffield Royal Infirmary. Presumably she gained lots of surgical experiences due to the war-

time conditions. She held several hospital positions in Britain before the War. She served with the SWH in

Ostrovo, Serbia and later at Royaumont. She proceeded to write her MD thesis (1920, University of

Aberdeen) on her experiences with malaria in the Balkans. After the War she trained in tropical diseases

(London School of Tropical Medicine, 1920) and left for India, to work as an MO for the Women Medical

Service India. There she met and married teacher John Garrett in 1925. In 1930 she worked for the Church

of Scotland Mission in Sialkot, Punjab, India. She returned to Scotland after his death in 1947. She worked

for 10 years at the Glasgow University Library without a formal contract. Did a FLA course at the age of 70.


Medicine, Librarian

No Mr John

Garrett, 1925


Federation

Lillie, "Malaria: With Special Reference to Cases

Treated in Macedonia." (Unpublished PhD thesis,

University of Aberdeen, 1920); Ancestry; Medical

Directory "Miss Lillie" 1920 "Mrs Garrett"

1935/1942

LOGAN Dorothy

Cochrane

Dr Royaumont 9

Apr 1918 - 28 Jun

1918 (Dismissed)

1888 1961 Irish MB BS 1912 U of

London

MD 1916 London, British Victory

and War medals 1921, Fellow Roy

Soc Med

She was born in Dublin in 1888. Before the War she held various hospital positions, in the General Hospital

Northampton, Royal Eye Hospital Southwark and New Hospital for Women. She was the only SWH doctor

ever to be dismissed. She had complained about the working conditions at Royaumont. After the War she

worked at King's College Hospital and later had a private practice. She published on VD. She became famous

in 1927 as she swam across the English channel in new record time under the name of "Miss Mona

McLellan." She later admitted to have faked her crossing, wanting to make a statement. She was fined 100

pounds and the BMA reprimanded her and threatened to take her off the GMC Register. At the time she was

a 39 Harley St physician, a gynaecologist. In 1942 she is listed as Surg i/c and Hon Gynaecologist &

Obstetrical Surgeon at the VD department of the Mothers' Hospital Clapton, MO i/c Women's Gonorrhoe

department King's College Hospital, MO Children's Medical Home (VD) Waddon, Surgical Registrar London

Temperance Hospital. She died in NZ in 1961.

Various hospital

positions (surgeon)

Obstetrics &

Gynaecology

(surgeon), VD

No No Unspecified Unspecified Ancestry; Angels of Mercy (Crofton, 2013),

Medical Directory 1920/1930/1942; "Swimming

against the Tide." Harley Street Medical Area,

https://www.harleystreetmedicalarea.com/news/

swimming-against-the-tide.

57


Qualification (MB

BS or similar)




t/Profess

or


society

Sources

LOWE Caroline

Victoria

Dr Girton

Newnham Unit 7

Oct 1916 - 1 May

1917

1882 1981 Irish MB BCh BAO 1909

RU Ireland

MD 1919 QU Belfast, British


She came from the Antrim, Northern Ireland. Before the War she lived (and practiced?) in Belfast, no

position is listed. After the War she started out as Ass Phys Firvale Hospital Sheffield and Women's &

Children's Hospital Leeds. From around 1925 she was Hon Anaesthetist & Hon Ass Phys at the Birkenhead &

Wirral Children's Hospitals, she retired around 1935. During WW2 she de-retired to serve as emergency

anaesthetist at Birkenhead Children's Hospital. She lived until 99.

GP? Anaesthesiology,

Paediatrics

No No Emergency

Anaesthetist at

Birkenhead

Children's Hospital

Medical Women's

Federation

Ancestry; Medical Directory

1910/1915/1920/1925/1930/1935/1940/1942

MACGREGOR

Beatrice Anne

Dr Mladanovatz 1

Jul 1915 - 1 Nov

1915

1873 1953 Scot MB CM 1898 U of

Edinburgh


1921

She was born in 1873 in Edinburgh, where she also studied. She held a number of "second-best" positions

before the war, i.e. at a sanatorium, an out-patient clinic and the Women's & Children's Hospital Edinburgh.

She served with the SWH in Serbia. After the War she lived in Wimbledon, but no position is listed. She

disappears from the Medical Directory from the 1925 onwards, she does not reappear under another name.

She died in Edinburgh in 1953.

Various hospital

positions (surgeon),

Public Health

GP? No No Unspecified Association of

Registered Medical

Women

Ancestry; Medical Directory "Beatrice Anne

McGregor" 1910/1915/1920/1921/1924/1925

MACKENZIE Myra Dr America Unit 1

Mar 1918 - 1 Oct

1919; Dr Girton

Newnham Unit 3

Mar 1918 (Still out

at time of list)

1876 1957 Scot MB ChB 1898 U of

Aberdeen


1921

She was Aberdeen's first female medical graduate. In 1901 she was House Surgeon at the Sick Children's

Hospital, Sheffield. Then she became resident physician and surgeon at Aberdeen Royal Hospital for Sick

Children and 1908 School Medical Inspector for County of Staffordshire. She served with the SWH in

Macedonia & Serbia. From 1920-1925 she was Schools Medical Inspector for the Staffordshire County

Council and temporary Chief TB Officer Mid Staffordshire. From 1926 she worked at the Lawn Psychiatric

Hospital, Lincoln where she was Medical Superintendant 1933-1941, when she retired. Member BMA,

Medical Women's Federation & Royal Medico-Psychological Association.

Women & Children

(surgeon), Public

Health

Public Health,

Psychiatry

No No Unspecified Medical Women's

Federation

Medical Directory

1915/1920/1925/1930/1935/1940/1942; "Dr

Myra Mackenzie," University of Aberdeen,

https://www.abdn.ac.uk/about/documents/Dr_M

yra_macKenzie.pdf

MACPHAIL

Alexandrina Matilda

CMO Ajaccio,

Corsica 2 Aug 1917 -

26 Nov 1917; Dr

Sallanches 1 Feb

1918 - 1 Nov 1918

1860 1946 Scot LRCPS, LRCS

Edinburgh & LFPS

Glasgow 1887

(LSMW)

Kaisar-i-Hind medal 1912 (with

bar 1918), British Victory and War

medals 1921, OBE 1930

She was born on Skye, Scotland. She studied at the LSMW, but took the Scottish triple qualification in 1887.

She was one of the very first female medical graduates in Britain. Her very first position was as clinical clerk

at the Great Ormond St Children's Hospital. She was a missionary in India for the majority of her career,

with a break serving with the SWH during the war. She left for India as the first woman missionary with the

Free Church of Scotland Mission in 1888 and started a dispensary in her own bungalow with 12 beds. In

1914 the 75-bed Christina Rainy Hospital was opened. She was also involved with Medical School for

Women at Vellore. Also co-founded a missionary sanatorium. She returned to India after the war. McPhail

was medical superintendent of the Rainy Hospital until mid-1920s. She retired in 1929 and returned to

Edinburgh.

Missionary/Tropical

Medicine

Missionary/Tropical

Medicine

No No Unspecified Unspecified "Obituary: Alexandrina Matilda Macphail," The

Lance t 248, no. 6433 (1946), p. 887.; In the

Service of Life (Leneman, 1994); First Ladies of

Medicine (Alexander, 1987); Ancestry; Medical

Directory 1890/1900/1920/1930/1935/1940

MACPHAIL Katherine

Stewart

Dr Kraguievatz 12

Dec 1914 - 1 Jun

1915

1887 1974 Scot MB ChB 1911 U of

Glasgow

Order St Sava, Serbian Red Cross

Medal, British Victory and War

medals 1921, OBE 1928, Russian

Red Cross Medal 1932

She was the daughter of a doctor and her sister also served with the SWH as an orderly. She worked at the

Glasgow Royal Infirmary before the War, first as Ho Surg and later as Out-door Ass Phys. She worked in

Kraguievatz for a short period, then left SWH with Dr Campbell because they felt they could be of more use

elsewhere. She was never allowed to return to the SWH. She went on to work at the Military Hospital in

Belgrade for the remainder of the War. After the War she ran her own Anglo-Serbian Children's Hospital

with funding from the SWH and Save the Children Fund. She was awarded the Order of St Sava and Serbian

Red Cross Medal. She was awarded OBE in 1928. In 1934 she established the English-Yugoslav Hospital for

Treatment of Osteoarticular Tuberculosis in Sremska Kamenica, Serbia. She was imprisoned by the Germans

in 1941, repatriated and returned in 1945 with one of the first relief funds but foreigners were less welcome

during the new regime. She returned to St Andrews in 1949 and stayed there until her death.

Various hospital

positions (surgeon)

Missionary/Tropical

Medicine,

Paediatrics,

Orthopedics

(surgeon)

No No Unspecified Unspecified Medical Directory 1920/1930/1940/1942;

'Surgeon Katherine S Macphail'


biography/?id=4499 ; "Obituary Notices:

Katherine S. Macphail," British Medical Journal ,

no. 5937 (1974), p. 170.; Foster, 'British Medical

Volunteers and the Balkan Front 1914-1918: The

Case of Dr Katherine Stuart Macphail,' 2013.; In

the Service of Life (Leneman, 1994)

MARTINDALE Louisa

Martindale

Spent her holidays

working at

Royaumont

[included manually]

1872 1966 Eng MB BS 1899 U of

London

MD 1907 London, Fellow Roy Soc

Med, CBE 1931, FRCOG 1933

Louisa Martindale was a world-famous suffragist and pioneering women's surgeon. However, she played

only a minor role in the SWH, spending her holidays working at Royaumont. She was the daughter of

suffragist Louisa Martindale and studied medicine at the LSMW. She took postgraduate studies in Berlin,

Vienna and Freiburg. She started out as a GP and later became a gynaecological surgeon. She was a pioneer

in the X-ray treatment of cancer; Co-founder Marie Curie Hospital. She wrote many books, including Under

the Surface in 1909 (breaking taboos around VD and prostitution) and A Woman Surgeon in 1951

(autobiography). She had a successful private practice and practiced as a consulting surgeon. She held many

prominent positions, sat on the board of a number of prestigious committees and was president of Medical

Women's Federation in 1931. She was president of the Medical Women's International Organisation in

1937. She worked as a surgeon in a London hospital during WW2. She never married but had a lifelong

companionship with Miss Ismay FitzGerald.

GP, Gynaecology

(surgeon), Author

Gynaecology

(surgeon), Author

Yes No Surgeon in a London

hospital

Medical Women's

Federation,

Women's

International

Organisation

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography;

"Obituary Notices: Louisa Martindale." British

Medical Journal , no. 5486 (1966), pp. 547-49.;

"Obituary: Louisa Martindale." The Lancet 287,

no. 7434 (1966), pp. 441-42.; Angels of Mercy

(Crofton, 2013); "Pioneers: Louisa Martindale

(1873-1966) F.R.C.O.G. 1933." RCOG Heritage

Blog,


pioneers-louisa-martindale-1873-1966-frcog-

1933/ ; Medical Directory 1920/1930/1940

MARTLAND Edith

Marjorie

Dr Royaumont 25

Jul 1916 - 9 Aug

1918


Lond 1914

(LSMW); MB BS

(honours) 1915 U

of London

MA Cambridge, Nat Sc Tri 1909

Cambridge, Croix de Guerre,


1921, Fellow Roy Soc Med

She was a brilliant student from London. After taking the Cambridge Natural Science Tripos in 1909, she

decided to study medicine at the LSMW. She graduated with honours in 1914. She held resident posts at the

Victoria Hospital for Children in Chelsea and the Hampstead General Hospital. She served as Ass Surg at

Royaumont 1916-1918, for which she was awarded the Croix de Guerre. After the War she decided to

specialise in pathology (deeming herself physically unfit for surgery after all); she got involved with the Lister

Institute and became biochemist and pathologist at the Elizabeth-Garrett Hospital in 1920. She was a

consultant pathologist 1928-1945. On the outbreak of WW2 she organised the emergency pathology dept.

at Wellhouse Hospital, Barnet. She officially retired in 1941 and moved to Dorset, but she became emeritus

consultant pathologist to Salisbury General Hospital. She finally retired completely in 1954 and moved to

Cambridge. In 1956 she was flown to Hollywood to be part of a TV show, to surprise an American officer

that had remembered a red-haired surgeon in France saving his leg from amputation. Author publications

on physiology and biochemistry.

N/A Pathology/Research Yes No Organised

emergency

pathology

department at the

Wellhouse Hospital,

Barnet

Unspecified "Obituary: E. Marjorie Martland, M.B., B.S."

British Medical Journal , no. 5281 (1962), pp. 885-

86.; "Obituary: Edith Marjorie Martland." The

Lancet 279, no. 7232 (1962), pp. 754-55.; Angels

of Mercy (Crofton, 2013); Medical Directory

1920/1925/1930/1935/1940/1942

MCDOUGALL Helen

(Mrs Hendrie)

Dr Kraguievatz 1 Jul

1915 - 12 Feb 1916;

Dr Royaumont 20

Sep 1916 - 1 Jul 18

and 1 Aug 1918 - 21

Oct 1918


Edinburgh

Order St Sava, LMCC 1919, British


DTM&H 1924, MD 1937

Edinburgh

She came from Islay, Scotland. After graduating she served with the SWH in Serbia (was on the Great

Retreat) and later in Royaumont. She received the Order of St Sava. After the War she went to Lima (Peru)

with the Free Church of Scotland Mission. She married Capt. H.G. Hendrie in Gold Coast (Ghana), 1922. Then

she worked in the General Hospital Vancouver, Canada for a while and later in Yendi and Accra, Gold Coast

(Ghana). She started an asylum in Yendi.


Medicine

No Capt. H.G.

Hendrie,

1922

? Unspecified Ancestry, Medical Directory "Miss McDougall"

1920/1921 "Mrs Hendrie"

1925/1930/1935/1940/1942;

http://www.newmp.org.uk/article.php?categoryi

d=99&articleid=1247&displayorder=598

58


Qualification (MB

BS or similar)




t/Profess

or


society

Sources

MCGREGOR Barbara

(Mrs Pirie)

Dr Girton

Newnham Unit 29

Oct 1915 - 1 Oct

1916


Glasgow


1921

She was the loyal assistant of Dr McIlroy, but was sent home at one point with malaria. She worked

temporarily as an Ass Pathologist at the Pathology department of the Glasgow Royal Infirmary in 1914. She

married Mr Pirie in 1917. After the War she is listed with just an address in Glasgow as "Mrs Pirie". From

1935 she is listed as retired, so presumably she practiced as a GP in Glasgow.

Pathology/Research GP? No Mr Pirie,

1917

Unspecified Unspecified Dissertation McMillan (Unpublished, 2018);

Ancestry; In the Service of Life (Leneman, 1994);

Medical Directory "Miss McGregor" 1915 "Mrs

Pirie" 1920/1925/1930/1935/1940/1942

MCILROY Anne

Louise

CMO Girton

Newnham Unit 8

May 1915 - 1 Sep

1919

1878 1968 Irish MB ChB 1899 U of

Glasgow

MD 1900 (commendation)

Glasgow, LM 1901 Dublin, DSc

1910 Glasgow, Fellow Glasgow

Obstetrical & Gynaecological

Society, Order St Sava, Serbian

Red Cross Medal, Medaille

d'Honneur des Épidémies, Croix

de Guerre avec Palme 1916, OBE


medals 1921, Fellow Roy Soc

Med, DBE 1929, FRCOG 1929, DSc

1931 Belfast, MRCP Lond 1932,

DSc 1934 London, LLD 1935

Glasgow, FRCP Lond 1937

She was born in country Antrim, Northern Ireland. Her father was also a doctor. She was one of the first

female medical graduates of Glasgow University and the first woman to receive the MD from Glasgow. She

did some postgraduate studying in obstetrics & gynaecology London, Berlin, Paris and Vienna. She was

appointed First Ass to Muirhead Professor Munro Kerr in Glasgow, and Gynaecological Surg 1906-10 at the

Victoria Infirmirmary Glasgow. She served with the SWH as CMO first in Troyes, then in Salonica. She

founded the Calcutta Orthopaedic Centre in Salonica in 1917, she also established a school for Serbian

nurses. Later she transferred to the RAMC to work as Surg at 82nd General Hospital Constantinople. She

received a number of medals for her War service. She was awarded OBE in 1920. In 1921 she was appointed

Prof Obstetrics & Gynaecology at the LSMW (becoming the first woman professor in the UK) and Surg at the

Marie Curie Hospital. Promoted to DBE 1929 for her contributions to midwifery. She was a founding FRCOG

in 1929. She was awarded several honorary degrees; DSc London, DSc Belfast, LLD Glasgow. She retired

officially in 1934, but she continued her private practise in Harley Street and was consultant to the

Bermondsey Medical Mission, the Thorpe Coombe Maternity Hospital, and to the boroughs of Finchley and

Walthamstow. She published >20 articles and a textbook on pregnancy. She was the first female president

of metropolitan branch of the BMA in 1946 and later joined the GMC. She was elected FRCP in 1937. During

WW2 she organised emergency maternity services in Buckinghamshire. She was vice-president of the

Medico-Legal Society.

Obstetrics &

Gynaecology

(surgeon)

Obstetrics &

Gynaecology

(surgeon), Author

Yes No Organised

emergency

maternity services in

Buckinghamshire

Association of

Registered Medical

Women

"Obituary: Anne Louise McIlroy," The Lancet 291,

no. 7539 (1968), p. 429.; "Obituary Notices:

Louise Mcilroy." British Medical Journal , no. 5589

(1968), p. 451.; "Pioneers: Louise McIlroy,

F.R.C.O.G. 1929." RCOG Heritage Blog,


pioneers-louise-mcilroy-frcog-1929/ ; McIlroy,

"The Work of a Unit of the Scottish Women’s

Hospitals in France, Serbia and Salonica."

Glasgow Medical Journal 88 (1917), pp. 277-87.;

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography;

'Surgeon Annie Louise McIlroy'


biography/?id=4481 ; In the Service of Life

(Leneman, 1994); Morrison and Parry, "The

Scottish Women's Hospitals for Foreign Service--

the Girton and Newnham Unit, 1915-1918." J R

Coll Physicians Edinb 44, no. 4 (2014), pp. 337-

43.; First Ladies of Medicine (Alexander, 1987);


MCNEILL Mary

Lauchline

Dr Girton

Newnham Unit 7

Oct 1916 - 12 Jan

1920

1874 1928 Scot MB ChB 1905 U of

Glasgow

Order St Sava, Serbian Red Cross

Medal, British Victory and War

medals 1921, Medaille d'Honneur

des Épidémies

She was born on Orkney, Scotland but she studied in Switzerland and Germany before attending QMC,

Glasgow. She was a GP in Orkney 1905-1914. In 1914-1916 she was Res Physician to the Leicester Fever

Hospital. She served with the SWH 1916-1920, thereafter she travelled to Tiberias to work with the United

Free Church Palestinian Medical Mission. Later she went from the Middle East to India and became a Roman

Catholic. She went to Uganda in 1921. She died of typhoid in June 1928, running a medical mission in a

remote corner of East Africa. A.L. McIlroy wrote her obituary in The Lancet.

GP Missionary/Tropical

Medicine

No No N/A Unspecified "Dr. Mary Lauchline Mcneill," British Medical

Journal , no. 3531 (1928), p. 471.; "Obituary:

Mary Lauchline Mcneill," The Lancet 212, no.

5479 (1928), p. 481.; In the Service of Life

(Leneman, 1994); Medical Directory

1910/1915/1920/1925

MCVEA Janet Annie Dr Mladanovatz 1

Mar 1915 - 1 Nov

1915

1881 1962 Scot MB ChB 1907 U of

Glasgow

Order St Sava 5th class, British


After qualifying, she practiced for a while with her brother, Dr J.A. McVea, in Lydenburgh, SA. Over there she

joined the Transvaal branch of the BMA in 1912. She served with the SWH in Serbia, for which she was

awarded the 5th class Order of St Sava. After the War she practiced in Ayr, she was rejoined by her brother

in 1920. She is listed in the Medical Directory with an Ayr address until her death in 1962. She probably had

a general practice.

GP GP No No Unspecified Unspecified Ancestry; Medical Directory

1910/1920/1925/1930/1935/1940/1942/1950/1

955; "Obituary Dr James Anthony Mcvea." British

Medical Journal , no. 4045 (1938), p. 154.

MEIKLEJOHN Sophie

Jean

Dr Royaumont 14

Sep 1915 - 1 Nov

1915

1880 1944 Scot MB ChB 1906 U of

Aberdeen

Carnegie Research Fellow 1912,

John Lucas Walker student 1913,


1921

She came from Shetland, Scotland. She was a Carnegie Research Fellow 1912-13, a John Lucas Walker

student 1913-1915. She published three in articles in the Journals of Anatomy and Physiology. She served

with the SWH at Royaumont in 1915, then she worked for the French Red Cross until 1917, followed by a

position at the Edinburgh War Hospital Bangour until 1918, and with the American Red Cross until 1919.

Then she was appointed AssMO to the Carnegie Dunfermline Trust, around 1930 she became MO to the

Dunfermline College of Hygiene & Physican Education. She was a member of the Pathology Society. She

went to Africa in 1937, where she founded the Chilubi Hospital and St Margaret's Leper Settlement in

Northern Rhodesia (Zambia). She died of blackwater fever in 1944.

Pathology/Research Public Health,

Missionary/Tropical

Medicine

No No Unspecified Unspecified "Obituary: Dr S. Jean Meiklejohn." British Medical

Journal , no. 4343 (1944), p. 473.; Medical

Directory

1910/1915/1920/1925/1930/1935/1940/1942

MIALL-SMITH Gladys

Mary (Mrs Fry)

Dr Royaumont 21

Jun 1918 - 7 Jan

1919


Lond 1916

(LSMW); MB BS

1919 U of London

BSc (honours) 1911 London,


1921, DPH 1921 London, Fellow

Roy Soc Med, Fellow Soc MOH

After qualifying, she started out as Ho Surg to the Great Ormond St Children's Hospital. After the War she

studied obstetrics at the Royal Free Hospital and took the DPH in 1921. She became Ho Phys at the Royal

Free Hospital and AssMOH to St Pancras. She married pathologist Dr Fry in 1921, and was consequently

dismissed. She fought to retain her job, which caused considerable coverage in the press (The Lancet), but to

no avail. They moved to Welwyn Garden City and she became District MO. She had to return to general

practice when Dr Fry died in 1930. After her retirement she travelled extensively, and worked in maternity

hospitals in Ghana and Zimbabwe.

Women & Children

(surgeon)

Women & Children,

Public Health, GP

No Dr Fry, 1921 Unspecified Medical Women's

Federation

"Public Health Services: The Marriage Bar." The

Lancet 198, no. 5118 (1921), p. 725.;

"Supplement 961: Medical Women's Federation."

British Medical Journal , no. 3226 (1922), p. 165.;

Weiner, "The Scottish Women's Hospital at

Royaumont, France 1914-1919." J R Coll

Physicians Edinb 44, no. 4 (2014), pp. 328-36.;

Medical Directory "Miall-

Smith"1925/1930/1935/1940/1942; London, "Dr

Gladys Miall Smith (1888 - 1991) – British

Doctor," Inspirational Women Of World War One,

http://inspirationalwomenofww1.blogspot.com/2

016/06/dr-gladys-miall-smith-1888-1991-

british.html.

MUNCASTER Anna

Lilian

Dr America Unit 4

Aug 1916 - 1 May

1918

1885 1930 Scot MB ChB 1909 U of

Edinburgh

Order St Sava 4th class, British


She came from Inverness-shire. After graduation she was AssMO at the Bangour Asylum, Edinburgh and

then went on to work at two other asylums. She was a member of the Medico-Psychological Society. She

left the Chester Asylum in 1915 to work for the Serbian Relief Fund; she worked in a Dispensary in Serbia.

She was part of the Great Retreat. She returned to Serbia 8 months later, when she served as bacteriologist

in Ostrovo with the SWH. She was awarded the Order of St Sava 4th class. She moved to South Africa in

1922 where she worked in several asylums. She was the first woman doctor to be given an official position

in the South African Government Service at the Cape Town Mental Hospital. She was Ass Phys at the

Alexandra Institute & Valkenburgh Mental Hospital. She died aged 45 of a cerebral embolism.

Psychiatry Psychiatry No No N/A Unspecified Ancestry; Medical Directory

1915/1920/1925/1930; Coles, "Anna Muncaster

1885-1930." Women's History Network,

https://womenshistorynetwork.org/anna-

muncaster-1885-1930/

59


Qualification (MB

BS or similar)




t/Profess

or


society

Sources

NICHOLSON Ruth Dr Royaumont 1

Dec 1914 - 4 Mar

1919

1884 1963 Eng MB BS 1909 U of

Durham

BHy, DPH 1911 Durham, Croix de

Guerre 1918, British Victory and

War medals 1921, MS 1923

Liverpool, FRCOG 1931

She was the only female graduate of her year. Her sister became a GP and another a nurse. She worked at a

dispensary before becoming Dr Elsie Inglis' assistant at the Bruntsfield Hospital. She worked in Gaza,

Palestine until the outbreak of War. She served from 1914-1919 as second-in-command at Royaumont, she

became the vice-president of the Royaumont Association. After the War she was encouraged by Dr Ivens to

pursue a career in gynaecological surgery. She became Hon Consultant Obstetrician at the Liverpool

Maternity Hospital, later Hon Surgeon. Later she started her own practice. She took over Ivens' lecturing

position at the University of Liverpool when Ivens got married in 1930. She was a founder member of the

RCOG in 1929, elected FRCOG in 1931. She was the first woman president of North of England Society for

Obstetrics & Gynaecology. She played prominent part in the Medical Women's Federation. She was a

founder member of the Women's Visiting Gynaecological Club in 1937.

GP, Public Health Obstetrics &

Gynaecology

(surgeon)

Yes No Unspecified Medical Women's

Federation,

Women's Visiting

Gynaecological Club

"Pioneers: Ruth Nicholson, F.R.C.O.G. 1931."

RCOG Heritage Blog,


pioneers-ruth-nicholson-frcog-1931/ ; Angels of

Mercy (Crofton, 2013); Medical Directory

1920/1930/1942

NIEL Elizabeth Niel Dr Sallanches 3 Sep

1918 - 6 Mar 1919

Eng MB BS 1907 U of

Durham

MD 1909 Durham, BHy 1909, DPH

Durham 1909, British Victory and

War medals 1921, Fellow Soc

MOH

She is listed in the Medical Directory as Ass School MO to the Durham County Council between 1911-1945

(at least). She was a member of the BMA, and a Fellow of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. She also

worked temporarily as Chief Tuberculosis MO for the Northumberlands County Coucil during the War.

Public Health Public Health No No ? Unspecified Ancestry; Medical Directory

1910/1920/1925/1930/1935/1940/1942

PAILTHORPE Grace

Winifred

Dr America Unit 29

Aug 1916 - 1 Oct

1916

1883 1971 Eng MB BS 1914 U of

Durham


1921, MD 1925 Durham, Fellow

Roy Soc Med

She was born in Sussex, England. After graduation she worked as Ho Phys at the Charing Cross Hospital &

London Hospital. She served in the War with SWH and the French Red Cross. Between 1918-1922 she was

District MO in Western Australia. She returned to England to study psychiatry; graduating MD from the

University of Durham in 1925 and being a research worker for the Medical Research Council. She developed

an interest in psycho-analysis and surrealism. In 1930 she was vice-president of the Institute for Scientific

Treatment of Delinquency. She takes up surrealist painting. She published a famous study on the psychology

of delinquency. She was involved with the foundation of the Portman Clinic. In 1935 she met fellow artist

Reuben Mednikoff. They lived together in Canada, where she worked as psycho-analist in Vancouver during

WW2. She exhibited her (controversial) art in London. She never married.

N/A Psychiatry, Art No No Unspecified Unspecified Medical Directory 1920/1925/1930/1935/1942 ;

"Doctor Grace Winifred Pailthorpe." A tribute to

some women and men who served in armed

conflicts,

https://camc.wordpress.com/2013/05/29/doctor-

grace-winifred-pailthorpe/

PORTER Agnes Ellen

(Mrs Millar)

Dr Valjevo 1 Aug

1915 - 12 Feb 1916

1881 1956 Scot MB ChB 1906 U of

Edinburgh

MD 1909 Edinburgh, DPH 1909

Edinburgh & Glasgow, Carnegie

Research Scholar 1911, Dr Jessie

MacGregor Prize 1912, British


She studied at Edinburgh University and was an active campaigner for the WSPU. She was awarded the

Carnegie Research scholarship in 1911, and won the Dr Jessie MacGregor prize for her work in physiology in

1912. She specialised in tuberculosis. She held several posts at the Royal Victoria Hospital for Consumption,

Edinburgh and the Lister Institute, London. Until 1920 she worked as bacteriologist in Leicester. She did

postgraduate studies in Strasburg. She served in France and Serbia with the SWH. She became AssMO at the

Combination Hospital Govan in 1916. She moved to Lewis in 1920, where she was MO for schools and TB.

She married Hugh Millar, a simple clerk, in 1922 nevertheless she continued to work until the birth of their

son in 1925. Her husband died in 1933, thereafter she moved to Edinburgh. It is unclear whether she

practiced there. Her son grew up to become a doctor too.

Pathology/Research Public Health No Mr Hugh

Millar, 1922

Unspecified WSPU Cross, "A Heroine of Serbia: Dr Agnes Porter &

Govan." Govan Fair (2015), pp. 24-26.; Medical

Directory "Agnes Ellen Porter"

1910/1915/1920/1925/1930/1935/1940/1942

POTTER Lina Mary Dr London Unit 30

Aug 1916 - 1 Mar

1917; Dr

Royaumont August

1918 (temporary)

1875 1954 Eng LMSSA Lond 1910

(LSMW)


1921, Fellow Roy Soc Med, Fellow

Zoological Society, Fellow

Hunterian Society

She studied at the LSMW and graduated in 1910. She studied in Geneva afterwards. Before the War she held

various hospital positions; e.g. Jr AssMO Greenwich Union Infirmary, ResMO Kensington & Fulham General

Hospitals etc. She served in Serbia with the SWH and enjoyed her time there. She returned with a love for

the Balkans (she traveled to Yugoslavia 2 years before her death). She was a well-known GP in North

London for 40 years. She was involved with the BMA in the 1920s and 1930s, reaching chairmanship of City

of London Division and serving as a representative. She sat on the panel of lecturers of the LCC and she was

a medical advisor to Scotland Yard. She was director of the Child Welfare League of the Red Cross Society,

lecturer to the St John's Ambulance Brigade and MO to Greenwich Union Infirmary. She published on

nutrition and childcare. She was a Fember of the Hunterian Society and a Fellow of the Zoological Society.

She was a London socialite. During WW2 she was a Tube Shelter MO.

Various hospital

positions

GP, Public Health,

Lecturer

No No London Tube Shelter

MO

Medical Women's

Federation

"Obituary: Dr Lina Mary Potter," British Medical

Journal , no. 4858 (1954), p. 403.; Medical

Directory 1915/1920/1930/1940

PROCTOR Ruth

Elizabeth

Dr Royaumont 1

Jun 1915 - 1 Oct

1915

1887 1976 Scot MB ChB 1913 U of

St Andrews

MA St Andrews, British Victory

and War medals 1921, DPH 1922

RCPS Eng, Fellow Roy Soc Med

She came from Aberdeen and studied at the University of St Andrews. After graduating she was ResMO at

the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. She served with the SWH at Royaumont. After the War she practiced in

London. Then she starting working in public health; first as AssMO to the Bromley Borough Council &

Middlesex Co Council. By 1930 she was Head of the Department of Hygiene & Bacteriology at King's College

for Women and Hon Phys to the Deptford Babies' Hospital. Later she was appointed Hon Medical

Directoryector of the Albany Deptford Babies' Hospital, examiner in hygiene at the University of London and

part-time AssMO to the LCC.

Various hospital

positions

Public Health,

Lecturer

No No Unspecified Unspecified Ancestry; Medical Directory

1915/1920/1925/1930/1935/1940/1945

PRYCE Ethel Jane

Mildred

Dr Girton

Newnham 1 May

1917 - 13 Nov 1917

1869 1937 Welsh MB ChB 1905 U of

Glasgow

MD 1913 Glasgow, British Victory

and War medals 1921

Before the War she worked as AssMO to the West Fever Hospital Fulham and Outdoor Surg to the Glasgow

British [?] Maternity Hospital and as ResMO at Leeds Public Dispensary. She spent many years in the work of

the Medical Missions of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, both at St. Aiden Hospital, Durban

(SA), and at St. Catherine's Hospital, Cawnpore (India). After the War she became AssMOH & Ass School MO

to the Kesteven County Council, a position she held until retirement around 1935.

Missionary/Tropical

Medicine, Women &

Children (surgeon)

Public Health No No N/A Unspecified Ancestry; Medical Directory

1910/1920/1925/1930/1935;

https://livesofthefirstworldwar.org/lifestory/5153

730

RENDEL Frances

Elinor

Orderly London

Unit 30 Aug 1916 -

1 Oct 1917; Dr

London Unit 31 Aug

1918 - 1 Mar 1919


Lond 1918 (St

Mary's); MB BS

1920 U of London


1921

Miss Rendel initially joined the SWH as an orderly in 1916, she was a medical student from London. She

returned as a qualified doctor in 1918. She was Dr Chesney's protégée. After the War she became clinical

assistant at the Great Ormond St Hospital and the Hospital for Diseases of the Heart from 1923-1937. She

had a prestigious private practice, where she tended to Virginia Woolf and others of the Bloomsbury group.

N/A GP, Physician No No Unspecified Unspecified In the Service of Life (Leneman, 1994); Ancestry;

Medical Directory

1920/1925/1930/1935/1940/1942

RICHARDSON

Barbara

Dr Royaumont 2

May 1918 - 4 Nov

1918

1881 1968 Eng MB ChB 1907 U of

Edinburgh


1921, DPH 1922 RCPS Eng

She had worked as a missionary in India before the War. She went back to Medak, India as a missionary

after the War. She returned in the late 1920s and became Ass School Medical Inspector and subsequently

AssMOH for the Staffordshire County Council, a position she held until retirement.

Missionary/Tropical

Medicine

Missionary/Tropical

Medicine, Public

Health

No No Unspecified Unspecified Angels of Mercy (Crofton, 2013); Ancestry;

Medical Directory

1920/1925/1930/1935/1940/1942

RIPLEY Mary Jane Dentist Girton

Newnham Unit 11

Jul 1919 (Still out at

time of list)

Eng LDS RCS Eng 1919 She travelled to Salonica to replace Dr Latarche in 1919. She had only just qualified as a dentist. She lived in

Berkshire and later in London. She probably had a dental practice.

N/A Dentistry ? ? Parry and Morrison, "Kate Latarche: Dentist with

the Scottish Women's Hospital During the First

World War," Dental History Magazine 11, no. 2

(2017), pp. 13-15.; Medical Directory 1921/1924;

Dental Register 1942

60


Qualification (MB

BS or similar)




t/Profess

or


society

Sources

ROBINSON Edith

(Lady Magill)

Dr Royaumont 1

Oct 15 - 1 Dec 1915

1881 1973 Irish MB BCh 1914 QU

Belfast

MD 1920 Belfast, British Victory

and War medals 1921

She came from Banbridge, Northern Ireland. She started out as Ho Surg at the Birkenhead & Wirral

Children's Hospital. She served with the SWH in France in 1915. She married prominent anaesthetist Sir Ivan

Magill in 1916. She graduated MD in 1920. She was Ass School MO to the LCC most of her career (at least

1924-45, 1955 lists her as retired).

N/A Public health No Sir Ivan

Magill, 1916


Federation

McLachlan, "Sir Ivan Magill Kcvo, DSc, MB, BCh,

BAO, FRCS, FFARCS (Hon), FFARCSI (Hon), DA,

(1888-1986)." Ulster Med J 77, no. 3 (2008), pp.

146-52.; Medical Directory

1915/1920/1930/1940/1945/1955ROSE Joan Kennedy Dr America Unit 28

Sep 1917 - 1 May

1918

1883 1975 Scot MB ChB 1917 U of

Edinburgh

MA 1903 Edinburgh, British


MD 1922 Edinburgh, MRCOG

1931, FRCOG 1941, Fellow

Obstetrical Society Edinburgh

She volunteered for service with the SWH after graduation. In 1918-1922 she held various residency

positions. She became Hon Obstetric Phys (later Surg) at The Hospice, Edinburgh. Then she went on to

become the new Obstetrical Medical Officer at the Elsie Inglis Memorial Hospital in 1925. She held this

position until retirement in 1950. Later she had her own gynaecological clinic too. By 1940 she was also an

examiner for the Scottish midwifery board.

N/A Obstetrics &

Gynaecology

(surgeon)

Yes No Unspecified Medical Women's

Federation

"Obituary Notices: Joan K. Rose," British Medical

Journal , no. 5974 (1975), p. 48.; In the Service of


1920/1925/1930/1940

ROSS Winifred

Margaret

Dr Royaumont 1

Dec 1914 - 1 Jun

1915 and 29 Apr

1916 - 3 Oct 1916

1885 1954 Scot MB ChB 1907 U of

Glasgow

OBE, Medaille d'Honneur des

Épidémies en Vermeil, British


Fellow Roy Soc Med

She was an excellent student from Polmont, Stirlingshire. After graduation she became resident surgeon at

the Paisley Parochial Hospital where she must have treated male patients (!). She was one of the founders

of the SWH. She was awarded OBE. In 1920 she was Civil MO at the Royal Herbert Hospital in Woolwich.

She lived the rest of her life in rural Scotland, presumably practicing as a GP. She was a member of the

Scottish Society of Antiquaries.

Various hospital

positions (surgeon)

GP? No Unspecified Unspecified Surgeon Winifred Margaret Ross'


biography/?id=2503 ; Medical Directory

1920/1925/1935/1942

RUTHERFURD

Margaret Elizabeth

Dr Royaumont 1

Jun 1915 - 1 Nov

1915

1884 1969 Scot MB ChB 1910 U of

Glasgow

LM 1919 Dublin Before the War she had worked as AssMO to the Govan Parish School Board, as ResMO Smithston Poor

House & Asylum Greenock Renfrewshire, and as Ho Surg at the Royal Samaritan Maternity Hospital

Glasgow. In 1915 she became junior doctor at Royaumont, then joined the RAMC in Malta as civilian

surgeon in 1916. She worked in Salonica until 1919. After the War she became AssMOH to Southend-on-Sea

and later part-time MO Manch Corporate Child Welfare Centres, a position she held until at least 1955.

Public Health Public Health,

Company doctor

No No Unspecified Unspecified "Lady Doctors of the Malta Garrison: Rutherfurd

Margaret Elizabeth." Malta RAMC,

http://maltaramc.com/ladydoc/r/rutherfurdme.ht

ml ; Ancestry; Medical Directory

1920/1925/1930/1940/1955

SANDEMAN Laura

Stewart

Dr Girton

Newnham Unit 8

May 1915 - 1 Sep

1915

1862 1929 Scot MB ChB 1900 U of

Edinburgh

MD 1903 Edinburgh, British


After graduation she became ResMO at the Dundee Parochial Hospital. Then she opened a private practice,

specialising in diseases of women and VD. She was a member of the Aberdeen Medico-Chirurgical Society

and the Edinburgh Obstetrical Society. She served with the SWH, as attachée to the RAMC & and with the

QMAAC 1917-1919. She was in charge of the medical department in Troyes, but unlike Dr McIlroy she did

not follow the unit to Salonica. She was a popular GP in Aberdeen; she was involved in the Aberdeen

community and local politics; advocating women's suffrage. She was a member of the Medical Society for

the Study of Venereal Disease.

GP GP, Public Health,

Lecturer

No No N/A Unspecified "Obituary: Laura Stewart Sandeman." The Lancet

213, no. 5505 (1929), p. 480.; Medical Directory

"Stewart-Sandeman" 1905/1920/1925; Morrison

and Parry, "The Scottish Women's Hospitals for

Foreign Service--the Girton and Newnham Unit,

1915-1918." J R Coll Physicians Edinb 44, no. 4

(2014), pp. 337-43.; In the Service of Life

(Leneman, 1994)

SAVILL Agnes Forbes

(née Blackadder)

Dr Royaumont 1

May 1915 - 1 Oct

1917 and 1 Jul 18 -

1 Oct 1918

1875 1964 Scot MB ChB 1898 U of

Glasgow

MA 1895 St Andrews, MD 1901

Glasgow, MRCPI 1904, British

War and Victory medals 1921,

Médailles d'Honneur des

Épidémies 1st class, FRCPI 1944

She was born in Dundee, Scotland and studied in Glasgow. She married Dr Savill in 1901 and moved to

London. In 1907 she took up a consultancy to St Johns Hospital for Skin Diseases (treating men!) and the

South London Hospital for Women. Her husband died in 1910, but she continued editing his clinical textbook

for 32 years. She published a study on the force feeding of suffragettes. She served with the SWH at

Royaumont and published on the X-ray appearances of gas gangene. She went back to her post in London

during the winter lull. She was in charge of the X-ray department at Royaumont, and helped to set up the

hospital at Villers-Cotterets. After the War she continued her successful career in dermatology in London.

She published many scientific articles. She cared about music, wrote Music, Health and Character in 1923.

She was vice-president Electro-therapy section of Royal Society of Medicine in 1935-36. In 1940 she became

consultant physician to the London Skin Hospital. She was elected Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians

of Ireland in 1944. She worked until the age of 83. She published a book on Alexander the Great in her late

70s, which went through several editions.

Dermatology,

Radiology, Author

Dermatology,

Radiology, Author

Yes Dr Thomas

Savill, 1901

Unspecified Unspecified "Obituary: Agnes Forbes Savill," The Lancet 283,

no. 7343 (1964), p. 1170.; Savill, "X-Ray

Appearances in Gas Gangrene." Proc R Soc Med

10, no. Electro Ther Sect (1917), pp. 4-16.; Angels

of Mercy (Crofton, 2013), First Ladies of

Medicine (Alexander, 1987); 'Surgeon Agnes

Forbes Blackadder'


biography/?id=1458 ; Medical Directory

1920/1925/1942; "Doctor Agnes Forbes

Blackadder-Savill," A tribute to some women and

men who served in armed conflicts,

https://camc.wordpress.com/2013/01/28/doctor-

agnes-forbes-blackadder-savill/SCOTT Jessie Anne Dr America Unit 4

Aug 1916 - 1 Jan

1917

1883 1959 NZ MB ChB 1909 U of

Edinburgh

MD 1912 Edinburgh, DPH 1912

RCS Eng/RCP Lond, Order St Sava

3rd class, British Victory and War

medals 1921

She was ResMO at the Edinburgh Hospital & Dispensary for Women and Children. In 1910-1913 she was

part-time AssMO to the LCC. She simultaneously took the DPH at UCL. She returned to NZ, where she took

charge of isolation hospital during a smallpox epidemic. She served with the SWH in Serbia during the War.

She then served with the RAMC in Salonica and France. She was awarded the Order St Sava 3rd class. In

1920-1922 she was MO to the LCC. She started studying gynaecology & obstetrics and returned to NZ in

1924 to work as a obstetrician & gynaecologist at the Christchurch Hospital. She resigned due to male

prejudice, and went into general practice. She stayed on as a Hon Gynaecologist to the hospital for 10 years.

She volunteered for the St John's Ambulance Brigade and she was active in local women's associations; she

was at one time president of the Canterbury branch of the New Zealand Federation of University Women,

and was a member of the National Council of Women of New Zealand. She was deputy chairwoman of the

NZ Women's War Service Auxiliary WW2. In 1958 she travelled to the UK for a reunion with the members of

the SWH and congress for medical women.

Women & Children

(surgeon), Public

Health

Public Health, GP,

Obstetrics &

Gynaecology

No No Deputy chairwoman

of the NZ Women's

War Service

Auxiliary

New Zealand

Federation of

University Women,

National Council of

Women of New

Zealand.

Australian Dictionary of National Biography; In

the Service of Life (Leneman, 1994);

Neuhaus,"Australia's Female Military Surgeons of

World War I." ANZ Journal of Surgery 83, no. 10


1925/1942; "Obituary: Jessie A. Scott, M.D.,

D.P.H." British Medical Journal , no. 5150 (1959),

p. 508.

SHARP Alice

Cameron (Mrs

Cameron)

Dr Valjevo 1 Apr

1915 - 22 Sep 1915

1883 1942 Scot MB ChB 1907 U of

Edinburgh


1921

She is listed in the Medical Directory 1910-1921 with a Glasgow address, no listed position. She marries Mr

James Cameron sometime between 1921-1925, for she reappears as Mrs Alice Cameron Cameron with an

address in Taunton, England in 1925. There is no way of knowing whether she practiced or not.

GP? GP? No Mr James

Cameron

Unspecified Unspecified Medical Directory "Miss Sharp" 1910/1915/1920

"Mrs Cameron" 1925/1930/1935/1940/1942

SOLTAU Grace

Eleanor

Dr Kraguievatz 1

Dec 1914 - 1 Jun

1915


Edinburgh & LFPS

Glasgow 1902

(LSMW)

Order St Sava 3rd class, British


After qualifying she held some junior positions in children's and women's hospitals and sanatoria. She also

went on mission to the Mure Memorial Hospital in Nagpur, India before the War. She was awarded the

Order of St Sava 3rd class for her services with the SWH in Serbia. Between 1915-42 she held several

positions in sanatoria in South England; first as ResMO at Moxley Sanatorium, then from around 1925-1935

as ResMO to the East Anglican Sanatorium Colchester, then she got promoted to the rank of Medical

Superintendent. She moved to London after retirement.

Women & Children

(surgeon), Public

Health,

Missionary/Tropical

Medicine

Public Health No No Unspecified Unspecified Ancestry; Medical Directory

1910/1915/1920/1925/1930/1935/1942

STEIN Nettie Hunter Orderly Royaumont

1 Sep 17 - 1 Jul

1918

1885 1965 Scot MB BS 1925 U of

London


1921, MA (honours) 1909

Glasgow, DLO 1930

She graduated MA with honours from Glasgow University in 1909. It is unknown what she did before the

War, but she joined the SWH and worked as an orderly at Royaumont from September 1917 until July 1918.

This must have inspired her to study medicine at theLSMW, graduating MB BS in 1925. She started a private

practice in Stirlingshire, until she took the Diploma of Laryngology and Otology from the Royal College of

Surgeons in 1930 and moved to Edinburgh to start practicing as a laryngologist. She retired in 1940 but

volunteered for the Emergency Medical Service. In 1942-1945 she worked as an assistant anaesthetist at the

Edinburgh Deaconess Hospital, before re-retiring after the armistice.

N/A Laryngology/Otology

, Anaesthesiology

No No Assistant

Anaesthetist at the

Edinburgh

Deaconess Hospital

Unspecified Angels of Mercy (Crofton, 2013); Ancestry;

Medical Directory 1926/1930/1935/1940/1942

61


Qualification (MB

BS or similar)




t/Profess

or


society

Sources

SUMMERHAYES

Grace Maria Linton

(Mrs MacRae)

Orderly Royaumont

12 Dec 1917 - 16

Aug 1918

1894 1993 Eng MB BS 1924 U of

London; MRCS Eng

& LRCP Lond 1924

(LSMW)


1921, DTM&H 1928 Liverpool,

Fellow Royal Society of Tropical

Medicine & Hygiene

She lost one eye as a child in an accident with a golfclub. She signed up for service to be closer to her

brother at the front. She had been a schoolteacher 'up north' (i.e. Colchester), the War gave her an excuse

to leave the school honourfully. After the War she entered the LSMW and subsequently qualified in

medicine. After graduation she worked in several hospitals; e.g. 1926 ResMO Royal Victoria Hospital

Folkestone, 1928 Sr Ho Surg Royal Free Hospital. But her adventurous spirit led her to accept a post in Gold

Coast (Ghana), setting up a maternity hospital. Over there she studied anaemia during pregnancy, as well as

malaria & other tropical diseases. There she met and married senior surgeon Dr Alastair MacRae in 1931.

They returned to Britain because of WW2, she took up a post as GP in Gloucester. After the War she was

active in public health; she became an independent district councillor. She was interviewed by Leah Leneman

in 1993.

School teacher Obstetrics &

Gynaecology

(surgeon),

Missionary/Tropical

Medicine, GP, Public

Health

No Dr Alexander

MacRae,

1931

Unspecified Unspecified Medical Directory "Miss Summerhayes"

1926/1930 "Mrs Summerhayes-MacRae"

1935/1940/1942; "Summerhayes Dr Grace Maria

Linton," Whitty Family Tree,

http://www.whittyfamilytree.co.uk/getperson.ph

p?personID=I9&tree=tree1

TAYLOR Lily

Dorothea

Dr Girton

Newnham Unit 3 Jul

1919 - 12 Jan 1920


Lond 1916

(LSMW); MB BS

1919 U of London

MD 1922 London She held various women's & children's posts at hospitals in her early career; e.g. Ho Surg at the Royal Free

Hospital, Sr ResMO at the Queen Charlotte Hospital, Ass Casualty Officer at the Great Ormond St Hospital

for Sick Children. Then she settled to become School MO at Bedales School Petersfield in 1923-1932. Then

she was appointed MO to several local infants' welfare centres and clincs. During WW2 she worked as Ass

Anaesthetist at the Royal Berkshire Hospital and was anaesthetist to the Emergency Medical Service. Author

'The health of the school child with specific reference to co-education and sexual education' (1930).


Public Health,

Anaesthesiology

No No Assistant

Anaesthetist at the

Royal Berkshire

Hospital,

Anaesthetist to the

Emergency Medical

Service

Medical Women's

Federation

Ancestry; Medical Directory "Dorothea Taylor"

1920/1930/1935/1940/1942

WAKEFIELD Frances

Margaret Daisy

Dr Kraguievatz 1

Dec 1914 - 1 Jun

1915

1879 1970 Eng MB ChB 1905 U of

Edinburgh


1921

She went on an Anglican mission to North Nigeria in 1907. She served with the SWH in Serbia 1914-15. Then

she was MO to the CMS Hospital in Omdurman, Sudan 1917-18. She was MO to the RAF Women's Civil

Hospital, Basra in 1919. She joined the Sudan Interior Mission, North Nigeria 1919-1921. She enjoyed a

lifelong career as a missionary, even though the Medical Directory 1921-1942 lists her brother's address in

Kendal. She only occasionally returned to her family in Kendal, but lived abroad all her life. In 1951 she

featured in newspaper article headed 'lone Englishwoman in Sahara' as she was living in the Maroccan

desert, translating the Bible into Touareg an teaching it to the locals. One of the newspaper clippings

mentions a husband, though her name never changed in the Medical Directory.

Missionary/Tropical

Medicine

Missionary/Tropical

Medicine

No ? Unspecified Unspecified Ancestry "Frances Margaret (Daisy) Wakefield"

featuring newspaper clippings; Medical Directory

1920/1930/1940

WALTERS Enid

Margaret

Dr Royaumont 16

Oct 1917 - 3 Sep

1918

1882 1960 Eng MB BS (honours)

1908 U of London

Gilchrist studentship for women


medals 1921

Before the War she had worked as AssMO & Pathologist at the Devon County Asylum, she had been Ho

Physician to the New Hospital for Women and Ho Surg Victoria Hospital for Children Hull. She was Ass

School MO in Hull 1915. She worked with the RAMC Malta Women's Unit first 1916-17, then joined

Royaumont in 1917-1918. She lived in London, and from 1925-1945 in Dorset. No position is listed, so

presumably she went into general practice.

Public Health,

Women & Children

(surgeon)

GP? No No Unspecified Unspecified "Lady Doctors of the Malta Garrison: Walters Enid

Margaret," Malta RAMC,

http://maltaramc.com/ladydoc/w/waltersem.htm

l ; Ancestry; Medical Directory

1910/1915/1920/1925/1930/1935/1940/1942

WARD Gladys Dr Girton

Newnham Unit 1

Nov 1918 - 1 Apr

1919; Dr London

Unit 26 Jun 1917 -

24 Nov 1917 and 2

Mar 1918 - 1 Apr

1919

1882 1960 Scot MB ChB 1916 U of

Edinburgh

DPH 1917 RCPS Edinburgh & RFPS

Glasgow, MD (commendation)

1920 Edinburgh, British Victory

and War medals 1921, MRCP

Lond 1936, Fellow Edinburgh

Obstetrical Society, Dorothy

Gilfillan Memorial Prize, Fellow

Roy Soc Med

She was the only one to know that Elsie Inglis had cancer. Author 'The Schick Reaction,' BMJ (1921). She

held various positions in women's & children's hospitals and the public health sector early on in her career;

e.g. AssMO Maternity & Child Welfare Deptford, Sr ResMO Royal Hospital for Sick Children Edinburgh and

ResMO at the Hospital for Women Edinburgh. From mid-1930s she became Deputy Regional MO to the

Ministry of Health. She held this position until at least 1942.


Public Health

No No Unspecified Unspecified In the Service of Life (Leneman, 1994); Ancestry;

Medical Directory

1920/1925/1930/1935/1940/1942

62