Agnes Marshall Cowan
Agnes Marshall Cowan MRCOG (19 April 1880–22 August 1940) was a Scottish physician who was one of the first fully qualified female physicians in the UK, and a medical missionary in
In 1934 she was the first Scottish female to be granted a professorship, but not until 1940 was a professorship granted within Scotland itself (Margaret Fairlie).[1]
Life
She was born on 19 April 1880 in Edinburgh the daughter of Marion Dickson Wallace (1851–1932) and
Cowan was one of the first female students admitted to the University of Edinburgh and studied medicine alongside Jessie Gellatly, Mabel L. Ramsay and others. They all graduated MB ChB in July 1906.[4]
Following graduation in the summer of 1906 she and Jessie Gellatly joined the staff at Leith Hospital in north Edinburgh, the first hospital to accept female physicians.[5]
She parted company with her friend Jessie around 1908 and went to work as a surgeon at the Eye Department of
In 1914 she was working in a hospital at
In 1915, her father was knighted and her parents became Sir John Cowan and Lady Marion Cowan.[7]
Possibly through her father's influence, Cowan returned from China and took up a commission as a Medical Officer in the Queen Mary's Army Auxiliary Corps attached to the Royal Army Medical Corps. In this capacity, she worked at HM Factory, Gretna commonly known as the "Devil's Porridge" factory, where thousands of tons of explosives were manufactured for use on the Western Front. Here she served as assistant to Dr Thomas Goodall Nasmyth. Her duties here included treating victims of explosions and attending the side effects of breathing and touching the caustic substances. After the Armistice in November 1918 the factory was quickly decommissioned.[8][9]
In 1919 she returned her previous position in Mukden Medical College in Manchuria which remained under the Principalship of Dugald Christie. In 1934, due to its strong links with the University of Edinburgh, the college became the first outside the UK to have a medical degree recognised in Scotland.[10] Cowan certainly formed part of this decision: in 1934 she had made a Member of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the college granted her a Professorship in Obstetrics and Gynaecology in 1934.[2]
However, from September 1931, things had started to go wrong, due to the
It is thought Cowan lived her final months with mutual friends in Cambridge, and she died there on 22 August 1940 aged 60. Her body was returned to Edinburgh and she was buried with her family in
References
- ^ British Medical Journal, 3 August 1963
- ^ a b c Hewitt, Judith (21 April 2021). "Worker of the Week: Agnes Marshall Cowan".
- ^ Edinburgh Post Office Directory 1880
- ^ "1906 female medical graduates". Archives @ University of Edinburgh. 12 November 2013. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
- ^ A Beacon in our Town: The Story of Leith Hospital by Christine Hoy
- PMID 24570319.
- ^ London Gazette 1 January 1915
- ^ Hewitt, Judith (2 June 2021). "Worker of the Week: Thomas Goodall Nasmyth".
- ^ "Secret Scotland - HM Factory Gretna". www.secretscotland.org.uk.
- PMID 17153154.
- ^ "James Marshall Cowan B.A.(Cantab) 1873 - 1912 BillionGraves Record". BillionGraves.