London School of Medicine for Women

Updated on Oct 30, 2023

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Founded 1874

Headquarters London Borough of Camden, London, United Kingdom Founders Elizabeth Blackwell, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, Sophia Jex-Blake Notable alumni Louisa Garrett Anderson, Flora Murray, Mary Esther Harding, Helena Rosa Wright, Louisa Martindale Similar Geneva Medical College, UCL Medical School, King's College London G, Royal University of Ireland, Bedford College - London

The London School of Medicine for Women established in 1874 was the first medical school in Britain to train women as doctors.

History

The school was formed by an association of pioneering women physicians Sophia Jex-Blake, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, Emily Blackwell and Elizabeth Blackwell with Thomas Henry Huxley. The founding was motivated at least in part by Jex-Blake's frustrated attempts at getting a medical degree at a time when women were not admitted to British medical schools. Other women who had studied with Jex-Blake in Edinburgh joined her at the London school, including Isabel Thorne who succeeded her as honorary secretary in 1877. She departed to start a medical practice in Edinburgh where she would found the Edinburgh School of Medicine for Women in 1886.

The UK Medical Act of 1876 (39 and 40 Vict, Ch. 41) was an act which repealed the previous Medical Act in the United Kingdom that allowed the medical authorities to license all qualified applicants irrespective of gender. In 1877 an agreement was reached with the Royal Free Hospital that allowed students at the London School of Medicine for Women to complete their clinical studies there. The Royal Free Hospital was the first teaching hospital in London to admit women for training.

Elizabeth Garrett Anderson was Dean (1883-1903) while the school was rebuilt, became part of the University of London and consolidated association with the Royal Free Hospital. In 1896, the School was renamed the London Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine for Women.

In 1894, a well known Indian feminist Dr. Rukhmabai qualified in medicine after attending the London School of Medicine for Women. The number of Indian women students steadily increased so that by 1920 the school, in co-operation with the India Office opened a hostel for female Indian medical students.

In 1998, it merged with the University College Hospital's medical school to form the UCL Medical School.

Notable graduates

Florence Barrett, consultant surgeon at the Mothers' Hospital in Clapton and the Royal Free Hospital in London

Julia Bell, human geneticist and member of the Royal College of Physicians, graduated 1920

Margery Blackie, homeopath to Queen Elizabeth II

Fanny Jane Butler, in first graduating class, 1880; known as first English, fully trained medical missionary in India

Dame Hilda Bynoe, Governor of Grenada, graduated 1951

Eleanor Davies-Colley, surgeon, first female FRCS, co-founder of the South London Hospital for Women and Children, graduated 1907

Eva Frommer, pioneering child psychiatrist, founder of the Children's Day Hospital and foundation member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, graduated 1952

Louisa Garrett Anderson, co-founder of Women's Hospital for Children, co-founder and Chief Surgeon of Women's Hospital Corps, graduated circa 1897

Mary Esther Harding, Jungian psycholanalyst, graduated 1910

Dr. Jensha Jhirad, the first Indian woman with a degree in obstetrics and gynaecology, graduated 1919

Una Ledingham, expert on the problems of diabetic women

Margaret Lowenfeld, child psychologist, psychotherapist and paediatrician, graduated 1918

Isabella Macdonald Macdonald, graduated in 1888, one of the first few women in the UK to do so

Flora Murray, co-founder of Women's Hospital for Children and the Women's Hospital Corps, graduated circa 1895

Innes Hope Pearse, co-founder of the Pioneer Health Centre and the Peckham Experiment, graduated 1915

Edith Shove, graduated 1882

Alice Stewart, epidemiologist who revolutionized the understanding of radiation risk, graduated 1899

Alice Vickery, the first British woman to qualify as chemist and druggist

Jane Elizabeth Waterston, in first graduating class, 1880; known as first woman doctor in South Africa.

Helena Rosa Wright, surgeon, birth control pioneer both in the UK and internationally, graduated 1914

References

London School of Medicine for Women Wikipedia

(Text) CC BY-SA

Contents

History

Notable graduates

References