Dr Sophia Jex-Blake

Category

Library Item

Item no

37979

Title

Dr Sophia Jex-Blake

Artist / maker

Unknown

Date

1985

Size

12.1 x 12.8 cm

Type

Etching; Reproduction

Copyright

The copyright status of this item is unknown. If you have information related to the copyright holder please contact us.

Sophia Jex-Blake was born in Hastings in 1840. Her parents prevented her from going to college so she studied with private tutors and went to America in 1865. She originally worked as a teacher, then decided to become a doctor but was refused entry to Harvard and had to return to the UK following the death of her father. She was one of five women admitted to the University of Edinburgh Medical School in 1869, but although she studied and passed the exams, despite violent demonstrations from male students, the University refused to award degrees to women (a situation that continued until 1894). However, in 1877 she was awarded an MD by the University of Berne, and she became only the third woman to register with the General Medical Council.

In the 1880s she returned to Edinburgh, where she founded the Edinburgh Hospital and Dispensary for Women and Children (later Bruntsfield Hospital), and in 1886 she founded the Edinburgh School of Medicine for Women. In 1889 her former student Elsie Inglis set up a rival medical school.

Dr Jex-Blake retired to Sussex in 1899, but continued to campaign for women's suffrage until she died in 1912.

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People > Adults > Women

People > Education and communication > Professors

People > Education and communication > Teachers

People > Health and safety > Doctors

People > Health and safety > Physicians

Places > Edinburgh areas > Leith

Places > Scotland > Edinburgh