Profession Physician Grandparents Newson Garrett Cousins Philippa Fawcett | Name Louisa Anderson Notable prizes CBE | |
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Born 28 July 1873 ( 1873-07-28 ) Aldeburgh, Suffolk, England Education St Leonards SchoolLondon School of Medicine for Women Known for Military hospitalsCampaigning for women's rights and social reform Relatives Elizabeth Garrett Anderson (mother)Alan Garrett Anderson (brother)Millicent Fawcett (maternal aunt) Died November 15, 1943, Penn, United Kingdom Books Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, 1836-1917 Parents Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, Newson Garrett Similar People Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, Millicent Fawcett, Sophia Jex‑Blake, Elizabeth Blackwell | ||
Dr. Louisa Garrett Anderson, CBE (28 July 1873 – 15 November 1943) was a medical pioneer, a member of the Women's Social and Political Union, a suffragette, and social reformer. She was the daughter of the founding medical pioneer Elizabeth Garrett Anderson. Her aunt, Dame Millicent Fawcett was a British suffragist. Anderson was the Chief Surgeon of the Women's Hospital Corps (WHC) and a Fellow of Royal Society of Medicine
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Early life and education
She was one of the three children of James George Skelton Anderson of the Orient Steamship Company co-owned by his uncle Arthur Anderson, and Elizabeth Garrett Anderson who was the first woman to qualify as a doctor, co-founder of the London School of Medicine for Women and Britain's first elected woman Mayor (of Aldeburgh).
She was educated at St Leonards School in St. Andrews, Fife and at the London School of Medicine for Women located at the Royal Free Hospital, where she worked as a doctor in private practice and hospitals.
Suffragette activity
In 1912, she was imprisoned in Holloway, briefly, for her suffragette activities which included breaking a window by throwing a brick. She wrote many medical articles and published a biography of her mother in 1939.
Medicine – WW1
In the First World War she served in France with the Women's Hospital Corps. Along with her friend and colleague Dr. Flora Murray, she established military hospitals for the French Army in Paris and Wimereux. Their proposals were at first rejected by the British authorities, but eventually the WHC became established at the military hospital, Endell Street Military Hospital, Holborn, London staffed entirely by women, from chief surgeon to orderlies.
Death
She never married and is buried at the Holy Trinity Church with her friend and colleague, Dr. Flora Murray near to her home in Penn, Buckinghamshire. The inscription on her grave stone reads "Louisa Garrett Anderson, C.B.E., M.D., Chief Surgeon Women's Hospital Corps 1914–1919. Daughter of James George Skelton Anderson and Elizabeth Garrett Anderson of Aldeburgh, Suffolk. Born 28th. July 1873, died November 15. 1943. We have been gloriously happy."
Archives
The archives of Louisa Garrett Anderson are held at The Women's Library at the Library of the London School of Economics, ref 7LGA