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London School of Medicine for Women — news, coverage & facts — IJR

History

The school was formed in 1874 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, thus being expelled from Edinburgh University. 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 Medical Act 1876 (39 & 40 Vict. c. 41) was an act which repealed the previous Medical Act in the United Kingdom and allowed the medical authorities to license all qualified applicants irrespective of gender.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 officially renamed the London (Royal Free Hospital) School of Medicine for Women.

In 1894, a well known Indian feminist 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 1914, the school was further expanded due to the number of women wishing to study medicine, making it necessary to double the number of laboratories and lecture rooms. At the time of expansion, the school had over 300 students enrolled, making it the largest women's university college in Britain.

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

Notable alumni

Isabella Mears, medical missionary to China, founder and director of the Woodburn Sanatorium, and Translator of Chinese texts. Entered in 1875.

Dame Louisa Aldrich-Blake, first woman in Britain to be awarded the degree of Master of Surgery.

Florence Barrett, consultant surgeon at the Mothers' Hospital in Clapton and the Royal Free Hospital in London, graduated 1906

Diana Beck, consultant neurosurgeon at Middlesex Hospital, graduated 1925

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

Rosemary Biggs, haematologist, graduated 1943

Margery Blackie, homeopath to Queen Elizabeth II, graduated 1923

Mary Alice Blair, surgeon and Unit Administrator with the Scottish Women's Hospital for Foreign Service, graduated 1910

Margaret Boileau, doctor and surgeon from Norfolk, graduated 1906

Ruth Bowden, professor of anatomy at the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, graduated 1940

Winifred Buckley, army surgeon at the Endell Street Military Hospital, graduated c. 1910

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

Phillis Emily Cunnington, collector, writer and historian on costume and fashion, graduated 1918

Janet Elizabeth Lane-Claypon, a founder of the science of epidemiology, graduated 1901

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

Katharine Dormandy, haematologist at the Royal Free Hospital, graduated 1951

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

Frances Gardner, consultant cardiologist at the Royal Free Hospital, graduated 1940

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 Gordon, first British female prison inspector, graduated 1890

Mary Esther Harding, Jungian psychoanalyst, graduated 1910

Dorothy Christian Hare, medical director of the Women's Royal Naval Service

Charlotte Leighton Houlton, chief medical officer, Women's Medical Service of India (1935–1939)

Jerusha Jhirad, the first Indian woman with a degree in obstetrics and gynaecology, graduated 1919

Mary Lucas Keene, professor of anatomy, graduated 1911

Una Ledingham, expert on diabetes and pregnancy, graduated 1927

Katharine Lloyd-Williams, anaesthetist, graduated 1926

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

Helen Mackay, the first female fellow of the Royal College of Physicians

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

Christine Murrell, first female member of the British Medical Association Central Council, graduated 1899

Doris Lyne Officer, graduated 1921

Elizabeth Margaret Pace, gynocologist, graduated 1891

Sylvia Payne, president of the British Psychoanalytical Society

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

Frances Helen Prideaux, known as "one of the most distinguished students" of the School and first woman to be appointed to a London hospital in an open competition with men, graduated 1884

Gladys Maud Sandes, surgeon, venereologist, and first woman physician at London Lock Hospital, graduated 1922

Sophia Seekings Friel, one of the first Maternity and Child Welfare Inspectors and co-founder of the Tottenham 'school for mothers'

Edith Shove, graduated 1882

Honor Smith, neurologist, graduated 1937

Lucy Naish nee Wellburn, pioneering paediatric doctor, infant welfare specialist and professor of medicine in Sheffield and mother of Alice Stewart, epidemiologist who revolutionized the understanding of radiation risk, graduated 1902

Mary Sturge, graduated 1891

Ethel Vaughan-Sawyer, gynaecological surgeon

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.

Elizabeth Mary Wells, missionary and doctor in East Africa

Lucy Wills, discovered nutritional factor in yeast (folate), which prevented macrocytic anaemia in pregnancy.

Helen Mary Wilson, physician and social campaigner.

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