Elsie Inglis

One of the first women to graduate from the University of Edinburgh, Elsie left an enduring legacy of excellent medical practice, both in Edinburgh and while working in war zones.

 

Elsie first studied at Sophia Jex-Blake’s Edinburgh School of Medicine for Women, completing her training in 1892, and graduating with a medical degree from Edinburgh in 1899. In addition to private practice, she established a small hospital, ‘The Hospice’ in Edinburgh.

 

In 1914, on behalf of the Scottish and National Women’s Suffrage societies, Elsie offered to fund and organise women-run field hospitals for the Imperial Army but was rejected. Similar offers to the Serbian and French governments were accepted, and the Scottish Women’s Hospitals for Foreign Service was founded.

 

Elsie worked in Britain, raising funds and sending female doctors to the European battle fields. She also joined missions herself. On return to Britain from one of these missions, she died in Newcastle from cancer exacerbated by exhaustion.