Edinburgh College of Medicine for Women

The Edinburgh College of Medicine for Women

30 Chambers Street, Edinburgh. The building which housed the College of Medicine for Women was demolished and replaced in 1927 by this building, the former Edinburgh Dental Hospital
Active	1889 (1889)–1916 (1916)
Parent institution	Scottish Association for the Medical Education of Women

The Edinburgh College of Medicine for Women was established by Elsie Inglis and her father John Inglis. Elsie Inglis went on to become a leader in the suffrage movement and found the Scottish Women's Hospital organisation in World War I, but when she jointly founded the college she was still a medical student. Her father, John Inglis, had been a senior civil servant in India, where he had championed the cause of education for women. On his return to Edinburgh he became a supporter of medical education for women and used his influence to help establish the college. The college was founded in 1889 at a time when women were not admitted to university medical schools in the UK.

Origins

The college was set up as a result of a dispute within the

The college was set up in direct competition to Jex-Blake's Edinburgh School of Medicine for Women, which was to close in 1898.[5]^[6] It aimed to prepare the women students for the examinations of the Triple Qualification (TQ) offered by the Scottish medical Royal Colleges.^[5] Successful candidates were able to register with the General Medical Council and practice medicine in Britain, throughout much of the then British Empire and in some states of the United States of America. When the Scottish universities allowed women to graduate in medicine, many of the college's graduates were awarded the university degrees of MB, CM until 1899 or MB, ChB thereafter.^[7]

In the first session the college had 18 lecturers whose lectures covered the syllabus of subjects required by the TQ. The TQ also required a series of clinical placements in a variety of specialities in approved hospitals. The main teaching hospital, the

There was still much opposition to medical education for women and much of the success of the college resulted from the influential supporters of the Scottish Association for the Medical Education of Women. These included the Association's first president Sir Alexander Christison Bt, who ironically was the son of Sir Robert Christison who had been a leading opponent of medical education for women. Among the first Vice Presidents were Dr Robert Craig Maclagan and Sir Robert Philip the pioneer of tuberculosis treatment.^[9]

In July 1892 the college had sufficient funds and sufficient influence to have two wards in the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh opened to the women medical students of the college at a cost of £700.^[10] The students were initially taught in the medical ward by Dr William Russell and Dr (later Sir) Byrom Bramwell and in the surgical ward by Mr (later Professor Sir) Joseph M Cotteril.^[11]

The college merged with the

At the time of the college's foundation there was still opposition to medical education for women. By choosing to lecture at the college the lecturers were effectively making public their support for women in medicine. Most were young men several of whom would become well known in later life.[12] The first lecturers included:

• John W Ballantyne (Midwifery and gynaecology) who made significant contributions to improving antenatal and perinatal care, publishing over 500 papers and books on obstetrical topics.^[13]
• William Craig FRSE, FRCSEd (Therapeutics) became better known as a botanist in later life.^[14]
• president of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.^[15]
• William Keiller (Anatomy), who from 1891 became Professor of Anatomy at the University of Texas at Galveston.^[16]
• Harvey Littlejohn FRCSEd (Public Health) who became professor of Forensic Medicine at the University of Edinburgh and as an expert on medical jurisprudence became an expert witness at celebrated criminal trials.^[17]
• William Ivison Macadam FRSE, FIC (Chemistry) who continued chemistry research and teaching in the extramural school, supporting the cause of women's education until his tragic murder in his laboratory in 1912.^[18]
• Robert Philip FRSE, FRCP (Medicine) who became a pioneer in the treatment of tuberculosis and went on to become president of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh and president of the British Medical Association. He was knighted for services to medicine.^[19]
• William Russell FRCPE (Pathology) who became Professor of Medicine at the University of Edinburgh and president of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. He was the first to describe the cellular inclusion particles known as Russell bodies.^[20][21]

Notable students

References