Okay, where to start with this amazing lady's life? The beginning's always a good spot, but before I do, let me just tell you that this woman should be a source of inspiration to every female who wants to get ahead in life. When it comes to sheer determination, there are not many who could put in a valid claim to eclipse her. She is, without a doubt, my personal hero, and the world is a far better place because of her. And why all this gushing praise? Well, it may not seem much now, but nearly 135 years ago she became the first female physician (i.e., the first woman to gain a medical degree) in Britain. Although thanks to the misogynistic attitudes prevalent at the time, she didn't actually *get* her deg... wait a second, I'm getting ahead of myself.
Early Life
Dr. Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, MD (to give her full title) was born in Whitechapel in East London on the 9th June 1836 to Newton Garret and his wife Louise Dunnell. One of twelve children, she wasn't the only member of her family who fought for women's rights; her sister, Millicent Garrett Fawcett, went on to become the leader of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies. Of course, another sister, Agnes, became a furniture designer, but lets face it, what family really needs more than two feminist icons?
A series of happy circumstances meant that in 1850, Newton Garrett was in the privileged position of being able to send his children to boarding school. Elizabeth went to a school in Blackheath, where she was taught all that she would need to get through life as a woman. When she left school in 1852 aged 16, she was expected to return to her parents' house and get busy finding herself a man to marry. Elizabeth, however, was harbouring dreams of being a doctor. Of course, back in her time, for a female to even suggest that she was thinking about that particular career path would have resulted in dismissive laughter from all in attendance.
In 1854, Elizabeth met Emily Davies, a young woman who was very involved in the women's rights movement. She introduced Elizabeth to a number of other young ladies of a like mind, and I'm sure that their opinions went a long way in helping her to decide that she wanted to work rather than marry and be a kept woman. In 1859, another fortuitous meeting occurred; she met Elizabeth Blackwell, the first American female physician. It was probably this meeting that gave Elizabeth the resolve to go home and give her parents the good news. To begin with, her decision went down like a lead balloon in the Garrett household. In a letter to Emily Davies, she wrote of her father's reaction to the news:
"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."
Renew the subject she did, and her parents eventually came around to the idea and promised to support her in her chosen path. Of course, now the only problem that remained was to work out how to get on the path in the first place. It wasn't easy. The only medical path really available to women in the nineteenth century was that of nursing.
A Way Forward
All of the London medical schools turned down her application for a place to study medicine. Having no other choice, she enrolled at the Middlesex Hospital to train as a nurse. However, she started attending the classes that were intended only for the (male, of course) medical students and doctors. This way, she managed to pick up a fair amount of her chosen craft, even resorting to carrying out dissections in her own bedroom. However, one day she answered a question asked by a professor that the rest of the class were unable to answer; her jealous classmates subsequently barred her from attending further lectures. She was not one to be easily put off and so she began attending anatomy lectures at the London medical school, my soon to be alma mater. I'm ashamed to say that, on discovering her brilliance (naturally, she was top of the class), the other medical students refused to share a lecture hall with her and she was not allowed to complete her studies for a medical degree.
It didn't end there; her applications to take the qualifying exams at both the University of London and at the Royal Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons were turned down. However, a small loophole existed for taking the examinations set by the Society of Apothecaries. There was nothing in their regulations to say that a woman couldn't take the exam. In 1865, Elizabeth sat the exam and passed with flying colours; she was now able to practice as an apothecary, despite not having a medical degree. As soon as she had sat the exam, the Society of Apothecaries changed their regulations to prevent any more women from being able to enter the profession in this manner.
Professional Life
With her father's financial backing, Elizabeth was able to establish a medical practice in London. In 1866, she became the general medical attendant for the St. Mary's Dispensary, a clinic for treating the impoverished women of London located in Euston, and which later became the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital. It was here that she also began to teach other women the skills of medicine. She also taught herself French and travelled to the University of Paris to, finally, get herself a medical degree. In 1870, she became officially able to put the letters MD after her name. Of course, the British Medical Register refused to recognise her MD degree, but it's not as if she wasn't used to this misogynistic rejection of her talents by this point. Later that same year she was appointed as a visiting physician to the East London Hospital in Mile End.
In 1872, she opened the New Hospital For Women in London. Staffed solely by women, it provided much needed specialist medical treatment for the women of London. Anderson established Elizabeth Blackwell at the Hospital as a Professor of Gynaecology, a return of favour to the woman who inspired her course in life. In 1876, an Act was passed in Parliament that ensured that women were allowed access to train in all areas of medicine. Following this, she established and lectured at the London School of Medicine for Women, and in 1883 became Dean of the same. In 1897, she was elected as president of the East Anglian branch of the British Medical Association.
Elizabeth Garrett Anderson retired from medicine in 1902.
Personal Life
Despite being busy pushing forward the rights of women, Elizabeth still found time to have a personal life. When the Education Act was passed in 1870 she applied for and won (with an outstanding majority) the London School Board for Marylebone. In 1871 she married James Anderson, a shipwright who she met through his role as financial advisor the East London Hospital. Anderson was happy for Elizabeth to keep her maiden name, but did kick up a fuss when she refused to allow him to take care of her financial affairs. It can't be easy being married to a staunch feminist, especially in the Victorian era when the idea of women having the same rights as men was a completely new and alien idea to most.
They had three children: Louisa, who later became a militant feminist (and was at one point jailed for the same); Margaret, who died young from meningitis; and Alan. After she retired, she moved to Aldeburgh in Suffolk, and in 1908 scored another first for women kind by becoming the first female mayor in England. In the same year she also became a member of the militant Women's Social and Political Union, and even joined the storming of the House of Commons by the same. Not bad for a lady of 72yrs.
She died on the 17th December, 1917.
References
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Garrett_Anderson
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/garrett_anderson_elizabeth.shtml
- http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/WandersonE.htm
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