I am a teenage girl from London, aspiring to become a doctor someday. My passion for science and interest in fascinating medical discoveries has led me to choosing it as a career path. I recently moved to London from Sydney, Australia. I love to construct and present a speech, whether it is competitive or not, and when prompted with the question for this year’s Great Debate, “What Historical Person or Place from Your Local Area Deserves Greater Recognition?”, I knew I wanted to choose a topic that I had a genuine passion for, that I truly believe deserves to have more light shined upon it. As a young woman, it is important to advocate for the achievements of women throughout history, who have made it possible for me to achieve whatever I want.

In the future, I want to be a doctor. I want to go to a good university, attend medical school and potentially train to become a surgeon. Now, in society today, this is considered a socially acceptable statement for a young woman to be making. However, not so long ago, if I had said the same thing, I would have been looked at like I was crazy - a young woman, wanting to train as a doctor?

While it may not sound so unbelievable now, there was a time where women wanting to be educated in fields such as medicine was heavily frowned upon. It was not until institutions such as the London School of Medicine for Women were founded that women working in higher educational fields became normalised.

The London School of Medicine for Women, founded in 1874, is a place that deserves far greater recognition, due to the significance it had in changing the educational aspects of women’s lives.

Until 1874, it was almost impossible for women to train to be a doctor, and most were denied the right to study or receive a degree in medicine. This was until the London School of Medicine for Women was created and became well known as the first medical school in Britain allowing women to train and become fully qualified as doctors. 

The school was founded by several prominent figures in Women’s history, Elizabeth Garret Anderson, Sophia Jex-Blake, and Elizabeth Blackwell.

Elizabeth Garret Anderson was an English physician and suffragist, who is well known for being the first woman to qualify as a doctor in the UK. She successfully passed the examination of the society of apothecaries, who subsequently closed their exams for women to prevent others following in her footsteps. Sophia Jex-Blake was admitted to the university of Edinburgh to attend medical classes, but was denied the right to obtain a degree, and was soon expelled, along with any male students who supported women's entry into medicine. Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman to achieve a medical degree in America, was only accepted to a university in New York because the board decided to vote ‘yes’ towards her admittance as a practical joke.

These three women created the school so that other women would not have to face the same challenges they did. The school was a place where women would be taken seriously and treated equally. This is one of the reasons why the school deserves greater recognition, because of its ability to provide women with opportunities they previously did not have, without having to face prejudice or discrimination due to their gender.

The students in the school were taught in laboratories by male lecturers, until 1877. This is when the Royal Free Hospital agreed that the women could complete their clinical trials in hospital wards. The name was changed to the London Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine for Women. 

The school became increasingly popular for women who wanted to become doctors, and it had to be enlarged in 1898, and again in 1914. It became the largest Women’s university college in Britain, and in 40 years, it increased the number of women on the medical register from two to over 1000, around 600 of whom graduated from the school itself.

Another important reason the school deserves greater recognition, is due to the encouragement of women becoming doctors in other countries. In 1890, the first Indian female student enrolled in the school, and several students went abroad to train female doctors in countries where this was not socially acceptable.

The number of female students increased yet again during World War I, as most male doctors were sent overseas. Some of the students voluntarily staffed female only medical units across Europe. The school also temporarily accommodated female refugees, allowing them to study medicine at the school. This was extremely important for women who had fled their homes, because the school provided them with an opportunity to be educated at a challenging time in their lives.

The London School of Medicine for Women deserves greater recognition for its contribution to improving the education standards and opportunities for women, not only within its local area, but even internationally.

In 1948, following the creation of the NHS, it became a co-educational institution, as well as all other universities or similar places of education. The school was officially rebranded as the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine.

Today, the school is called the NHS hunter street health centre, and the only recognition of its importance is a plaque located on the front door. The school deserves much more acknowledgement of its significant contribution towards the education, employment, and welfare of women in medicine. It is crucial that we recognise the achievements of all the women who founded, taught, and attended the school, as well as the men who stood as allies, who supported the entry of women into medicine, and even worked as professors at the school. The London School of Medicine for Women is an amazing piece of history, and I strongly believe that it deserves to be recognised more. 
 

Photograph: Former London School of Medicine for Women (Credit: No Swan So Fine, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International)