1836 -1917

Elizabeth Garrett was born in Whitechapel, London in 1836. She was one of a family of twelve children born to Newson Garrett and Louise Dunnell. Her father ran a pawnbroker's shop in London, but when she was five years old he bought a corn and coal warehouse in Aldeburgh, Suffolk, which proved to be very successful. By 1850 he was a rich man and he and his wife were able to send their children to boarding schools.

Elizabeth and her sister Louie were sent to a school in Blackheath, an 'Academy for the Daughters of Gentlemen', and run by a Miss Browning and her sister. They stayed there for two years, after which time they were expected to stay at home with the family until a suitable husband came along. At that time it was believed that men disliked 'blue-stockings' and parents thought serious education for their daughters was unnecessary. Sons were encouraged to go to public schools and universities, but girls remained at home, maybe being taught by a governess for a short time. Some parents did send their daughters to a finishing school, but good schools for girls did not exist. Teachers were poorly educated and no public examinations accepted female candidates. Newson Garret took a great deal of trouble selecting the school for his daughters, but even so, after two years at Blackheath, the girls left, their education considered to be complete.

However, Elizabeth wanted to work and in 1854, while staying in London with a friend, Annie Crowe, she met Emily Davis, a young woman with strong opinions about women's rights. They became friends, and Emily introduced her to other young feminists. Emily told Elizabeth about Elizabeth Blackwell who had qualified as the first woman in the United States to become a doctor.

In 1859 Elizabeth Garrett met Elizabeth Blackwell when she attended lectures given by Blackwell and with Emily's encouragement she decided that she would follow her ambition to become a doctor.

Initially her parents were strongly opposed to the idea, and Elizabeth wrote to her friend Emily telling her how her father had reacted to her decision:

'At first he was very discouraging, to my astonishment then, but now I fancy he did it as a forlorn hope to check me; he said the whole idea was so disgusting that he could not entertain it for a moment. I asked what there was to make doctoring more disgusting than nursing, which women were always doing, and which ladies had done publicly in the Crimea. He could not tell me. When I felt rather overcome with his opposition, I said as firmly as I could, that I must have this or something else that I could not live without some real work, and then he objected that it would take seven years before I could practise. I said if it were seven years I should then be little more than 31 years old and able to work for twenty years probably. I think he will probably come round in time, I mean to renew the subject pretty often.'

With the help of a tutor, Elizabeth studied maths and science – not taught at the Blackheath Boarding School - and eventually in July 1860, Elizabeth's father agreed to finance his daughter's ambition to become a doctor. He contacted a friend, William Hawes, and asked him if he could arrange medical training for her. Mr. Hawes advised her to go into a surgical ward at the Middlesex Hospital for a preliminary period of six months. He suggested a surgical ward to test her resolve to become a doctor. Conditions at that time were bad, even in the best hospitals. In 1860 bacteriology was barely known and no-one had connected living germs with wound infection. The mortality rate after major operations was high and even in minor cases infection could occur. The surgeons wore frock-coats and before entering the theatre they changed into an old one. Gloves were not worn, sterilisation was unknown and the surgeon usually washed his hands after the operation, not necessarily before.

Elizabeth trained informally at the Middlesex, following the doctors on their hospital rounds and after a year she applied for admission at several medical schools, but they all refused to accept a woman student. She continued her education privately, studying with sympathetic faculty from recognised medical schools.

During her nursing training at the Middlesex Hospital, she attended lectures that were provided for the male doctors, but the male students complained and she was forbidden entry to the lecture hall.

Despite her hard work and resolve, Elizabeth's family put constant pressure on her to give up her plans to become a doctor and in August 1860, she wrote to her friend Emily Davies:

'I have had a letter from my mother. She speaks of my step being a source of life-long Pain to her that it is a living death, etc. By the same post I had several letters from anxious relatives, telling me that it was my duty to come home and thus ease my mother's anxiety.'

However, Elizabeth did exceptionally well in her studies and received a certificate of honour in each class examination. Her daughter, Louise Garrett Anderson, states in her book entitled 'Elizabeth Garrett Anderson' that the examiner was so impressed by her results when he sent her the list that he added 'May I entreat you to use every precaution in keeping this a secret from the students?'.

In June 1861, a visiting physician asked the class a question, none of the men could answer, only Elizabeth. This angered the students and they petitioned for her dismissal. A counter-petition was sent to the committee, but she was advised that she could no longer attend lectures, although she was permitted to finish those for which she had paid fees.

In 1863 the male doctors at the Middlesex Hospital issued a statement on the subject of women doctors:

The presence of a young female in the operating theatre is an outrage to our natural Instincts and is calculated to destroy the respect and admiration with which the opposite sex is regarded.'

In July 1863, Elizabeth applied to Aberdeen Hospital for medical training, on 29th July she received their reply:

'I must decline to give you instruction in Anatomy. I have a strong conviction that the entrance of ladies into dissecting-rooms and anatomical theatres in undesirable in every respect, and highly unbecoming... it is not necessary for fair ladies should be brought into contact with such foul scene. Ladies would make bad doctors at the best, and they do so many things excellently that I for one should be sorry to see them trying to do this one.'

Undeterred, Elizabeth continued her quest to search for medical training and in 1865 she discovered that the Society of Apothecaries did not specify that women were banned from taking their examinations. According to their Charter they could not refuse her request to sit the examination. She passed, receiving her L.S.A. (Licentiate of the Society of Apothecaries) a degree which allowed her to dispense medicine. Following her success to become a doctor, the Society of Apothecaries changed their regulations to stop other women from entering the profession in this way.

Not surprisingly, Elizabeth Garrett was now a committed feminist and in 1865 she joined forces with her friends Emily Davies, Dorothea Beale and Francis Mary Buss to form a woman's discussion group which they called 'The Kensington Society'. The following year, the group organised a petition, requesting Parliament to grant women the vote. Although this was rejected, the women did receive support from Liberals like John Stuart Mill and Henry Fawcett, the blind MP for Brighton. Henry Fawcett and Elizabeth became close friends and he proposed to her, but she refused believing it would damage her career. He later married her younger sister Millicent, who also achieved national fame by becoming the leader of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies.

With financial help from her father, in 1866 Elizabeth opened a dispensary for women and children in London, called St. Mary's Dispensary (later renamed the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital). However, she was still determined to obtain her medical degree. In 1868, France decided to allow women to become doctors, so Elizabeth learnt French, went to the University of Paris where she sat and passed the required examinations and on June 20th, 1870 was awarded her medical degree. She received a letter of congratulations from Sophia Jex-Blake and the other six women training to be doctors in Edinburgh:

'Our hearty congratulations on the brilliant success at Paris which has at length crowned your many years of arduous work – work whose difficulties perhaps no one can estimate so well as ourselves. And while congratulating you on receiving the highest honour of your profession from one of the finest medical schools in the world, we desire to express also our appreciation of the example you have afforded to others, and the honour you have reflected on all women who have chosen medicine as their profession.'

The British Medical Register refused to recognise her qualifications.

During this time, Elizabeth became involved in a dispute with Josephine Butler over the Contagious Diseases Acts. Josephine believed that the acts discriminated against women and that all feminists should support their abolition. Elizabeth disagreed with her, believing that the measures provided were the only means of protecting innocent women and children.

That same year Elizabeth was appointed a visiting physician to the East London Hospital for Children and was elected the first woman member of the London School Board. The 1870 Education Act allowed women to serve on School Boards for the first time. Elizabeth stood in London and won more votes than any other candidate. Through her involvement with the East London Hospital and the London School Board, Elizabeth met her husband, James George Skelton Anderson. He was vice president and financial adviser to the hospital and a successful businessman.

They married in 1871 and, as was fashionable for feminists at the time, Elizabeth retained her own surname. Although James supported Elizabeth's desire to continue as a doctor, the couple did become involved in a dispute when he tried to insist that he should take control of her earnings. They had three children, Louisa, Margaret, who died of meningitis, and Alan, but becoming a mother did not stop her continuing with her medical career.

In 1872 she opened the New Hospital for Women in London, staffed entirely by women and Elizabeth Blackwell, the woman who inspired her to become a doctor, was appointed professor of gynaecology. In 1873 the British Medical Association made Elizabeth Garrett Anderson its first female member and she held this distinction until 1892. In 1874, together with Sophia Jex-Blake, Elizabeth established a London Medical School for Women, where she was a lecturer, but unfortunately her relationship with her colleague was marred because Elizabeth did not consider Jex-Blake's temperament suitable to take charge of the Medical School and Isabel Thorne was appointed instead. Some years later in 1883, when Elizabeth was elected Dean of the London School of Medicine, a post she held for twenty years, Sophia Jex-Blake was the only member of the council who voted against her.

In 1876 an Act of Parliament was passed permitting women to enter all of the medical professions.

In 1893 Elizabeth offered a considerable sum of money to a new medical school in the United States, the John Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland, stipulating that the school admit women as well as men. John Hopkins agreed to this requirement and accepted her gift, ensuring that women in the United States could acquire a medical degree.

In 1902 Elizabeth retired from medicine and went to live in Aldeburgh, however she continued her interest in politics and in 1908 was elected Mayor of Aldeburgh, the first woman Mayor in England. At the age of seventy-two she became a member of the militant Women's Social and Political Union and was fortunate not to have been arrested after she joined other members of the WSPU to storm the House of Commons. However, in 1911 she left the organisation as she was unable to condone their arson campaign. Her daughter, Louisa Garrett Anderson, remained in the WSPU and in 1912 was sent to prison for her militant activities.

Elizabeth Garrett Anderson died in 1917 but her legacy to medicine remains. She paved the way for other women to enter the field of medicine and her influence was considerable in securing admission of women to professional medical bodies. Even today one of the leading hospitals for women in London is named after her as a tribute to the part she played in breaking down prejudice in the medical profession. One of the arguments that the Suffragettes used in the early 20th century was that women, as doctors, could be trusted with lives, yet were excluded from the basic right to vote.

Elizabeth Garret Blackwell