Sophia Jex-Blake

The leader of a group of 40 female students later informally described as the Edinburgh Seven, Sophia was a driving force behind the 19th century campaign to secure women access to a university medical education.

 

When Sophia applied to the University of Edinburgh in March 1869, the university court rejected her application. Undeterred, she gathered more women to join her. A second application was approved – the University of Edinburgh becoming the first British university to admit women – but in 1873, the courts overruled the decision.

 

Instead, she qualified in Switzerland and Ireland. She became the first registered female doctor in Scotland, establishing the Edinburgh Hospital and Dispensary for Women and Children (Bruntsfield Hospital) and the Edinburgh School of Medicine for Women in 1886.